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freyayuki · 2 years ago

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Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia Garnet Burst Banners Cycle

The banners featuring Garnet Til Alexandros XVII’s (from Final Fantasy IX) Burst or BT weapon is coming soon in the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game.

Crevasse β Banner 1

The Crevasse β banner 1 features the following chars and their weapons:

Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, LD, and BT

Lilisette from Final Fantasy XI - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca from Final Fantasy XII - 15cp, 35cp, and Ex

Have everything on this banner except for Lilisette’s LD and Garnet’s BT.

Crevasse β Banner 2

The Crevasse β banner 2 features the following chars and their weapons:

Lightning (Claire Farron) from Final Fantasy XIII - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, LD, and BT

Prompto Argentum from Final Fantasy XV - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Arciela V. Adoulin from Final Fantasy XI - 15cp, 35cp, and Ex

Have everything on this banner except for Prompto’s LD. Have copies of his 15cp and Ex but they aren’t fully MLB yet. AFAIK, his 35cp is already fully MLB.

Crevasse β Banner 2 Free First Multi-Draw Results

As part of DFFOO’s 4th anniversary campaign, we get a free multi-draw on both Crevasse β banners.

The free pull on the Crevasse β banner 2 gave me a gold orb which turned into dupes of Prompto’s 15cp and Arciela’s Ex.

Crevasse β Banner 2 Tickets Pulls Results

Prompto would be nice to have but not all that interested in him, certainly not enough to throw gems here when I’m only really missing his LD.

Had some tickets to spare though so I tossed a few here. Unfortunately, failed to get Prompto’s LD.

Was able to finally MLB his 15cp but the same can’t be said for his Ex. Sigh. Ah, well. You win some, you lose some.

Honestly, I don’t even need Prompto. I’d have been better off if I hadn’t wasted my tickets on this banner. At least I didn’t use all of them here but still. I regret using tickets here now. Shouldn’t have bothered.

If I’d gotten Prompto’s LD, then it wouldn’t have been so bad. As it is though, just felt like I wasted a bunch of tickets that I could have used elsewhere.

Update: why can’t I leave this banner alone? Somehow, I always seem to find myself going back here and to the Lilisette banner. Don’t need Prompto or Lilisette.

Wish I could stop myself from wasting tickets on these banners. Sigh. It feels like all my tickets just give me nothing but trash.

Sometimes, I’d even end up with 10-draws that don’t have a single gold item. Feels bad, man.

The one time I actually got an LD on this banner, it turned out to be Lightning’s instead of Prompto’s. Argh! Why’d this have to happen?

Crevasse β Banner 1 Free First Multi-Draw Results

The free multi-draw on the Crevasse β banner 1 gave me nothing more than a dupe of Lilisette’s 15cp. Meh. Bad pull is bad.

Thoughts about Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX

The Burst weapon of Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX (#ad) is a Global-first. This means that it has yet to show up in the Japanese version of DFFOO even though it’s months ahead of the English or Global version.

The Crevasse β event and banners and Garnet’s BT are all part of the celebrations for the game’s 4th Anniversary.

I pulled for Garnet’s LD way back when it first debuted in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia.

Since I was able to get Garnet’s LD, decided to fully build her by completing all of her Boards, buying her High Armor and Realizing it to 0/3, farming for triple of her perfect Artifacts (ATK 108 with MAX BRV 330 and ATK 108 with Princess’s Resolve Boost★★ (Raises INT BRV, MAX BRV, ATK, DEF by 5% if HP is MAX at start of last wave)), and equipping her with triple RF Spheres.

No regrets in building Garnet. She’s a pretty good support and healer with decent buffs and auras. She can battery the party. She can imperil enemies and enchant the party with the thunder and water elements.

IIRC, got to use her a few times in endgame content. Of course, as time passed and other chars got their reworks and updates and such, she started falling off until I no longer used her.

Haven’t used Garnet in a Dimensions’ End: Transcendence Tier yet. But I heard that she could be good for Tier 7 so was planning to slot her in there once the aforementioned stage showed up in the Global version of DFFOO.

I like Garnet well enough but I wouldn’t call her a fave or anything. So honestly, given the choice, I would have preferred for another char to have been our Global-first BT.

Heck, maybe getting a new char would have been better than Garnet. Well, depending on the char in question anyway.

When I heard that Garnet was getting a Burst, I wasn’t really hyped or excited or anything.

I was like, her banner mate has to be really good for me to consider using gems to pull, especially since I’ll likely only be missing at least 2 weapons on said banner (Garnet’s BT and her banner mate’s LD).

I also definitely don’t have plans of Greening Garnet’s Burst even if I do end up getting it.

Thoughts about Lilisette from Final Fantasy XI

Lilisette from Final Fantasy XI is a debuffer and buffer. She can battery and she provides pretty decent buffs and auras.

With her LD, she can finally heal as well. Compared to Garnet though, Lilisette seems pretty underwhelming.

Her Call Abilities are pretty good but I don’t think they’re that good that I should gem the Crevasse β banner 1 just to get her LD.

It’s actually been a really long time since Lilisette got updated. IIRC, she was one of the first few chars whose Ex weapons could be Realized.

Back then, the resources needed to do that were still really scarce. Lilisette was one of the chars who could work even without being Purple or Ex+ 3/3.

The recommendation was to get her to Ex+ 1/3 which was what I did. I regret that now because it was a waste of resources. It was better to either Ex+ 0/3 or Ex+ 3/3 a char.

Besides, Lilisette quickly got benched when more supports got their Ex weapons Realizable. It didn’t help that she couldn’t even heal back then so she couldn’t be your sole support unless you were going for a no-boss turns strat or something.

Crevasse β Banner 1 Tickets Pulls Results

Anyway, so the point was that I couldn’t justify throwing gems on the Crevasse β banner 1. Currently have 826 tickets on hand so decided to go with those instead.

To my complete and utter surprise, my second 10-draw on this banner gave me a Burst orb.

OMFG! What a super special awesome surprise. Honestly wasn’t expecting to get Garnet’s BT at all since I wasn’t planning to use gems here.

Really very happy to see this. Been hearing a lot of good things about Garnet’s Burst.

Apparently, her BT effect provides really good party-wide auras, especially if it’s been fully upgraded to BT+ 3/3.

Anyway, this draw also gave me a dupe of Ashe’s 35cp. LOL.

Still have 806 tickets left when Garnet’s Burst weapon showed up.

Before continuing to pull, decided to go ahead and level up Garnet’s BT first so I could equip it to her already. Then I went back to this banner. Unfortunately, I failed to get Lilisette’s LD.

Got the usual bronze and silver trash with the occasional gold dupe. Was able to get like 2 dupes of Ashe’s Ex and 1 dupe of Garnet’s Ex and Lilisette’s Ex.

I welcome the Ashe Ex and Garnet Ex dupes because they give good Spheres. Ashe’s gives a D Sphere that raises the party’s ATK by 5% while Garnet’s gives a C Sphere that increases its user’s ATK by 10%.

Decided to stop pulling when I was down to around 700 tickets or so since it felt like I was just wasting my tickets now. It wasn’t like I really needed Lilisette anyway. It was better to just save the rest of my tickets.

Thoughts about Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX Part 2

Took Garnet to a fight to try her out and she is good. Looked up more info about her Burst and its effects, and they are really good. Actually found myself considering the possibility of Greening her.

So far, I only have 2 BT+ 3/3 chars. These are Ace from Final Fantasy Type-0 and Machina Kunagiri from Final Fantasy Type-0.

My third Green was all set to be Zack Fair from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII. Now I’m actually thinking of having Garnet as my third Green.

Ace is a magical DPS. Machina’s a physical DPS. Garnet’s a support. Zack’s a tank who can also be a DPS.

So there’s no overlap when it comes to roles, not that it matters either way. Because I’ve been Greening the chars I like. It just so happens that the chars I like have different roles.

I do like Garnet well enough. She can help boost the damage of my DPS. Since I only have 2 BT+ 3/3 chars, I have the resources to spare to Green Garnet and still have more than enough for when Zack gets his Burst.

After Zack, Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII was set to be my next BT+ 3/3 char. I’ve been using Sephiroth for endgame content basically ever since I got his LD and BT.

He’s been powercrept by now so am really looking forward to the time when he’ll get his update and rework. Also can’t wait to Green him.

I’m really glad that I’ve been able to successfully use Sephiroth through all these hard fights even if it hasn’t always been easy. He really needs a lot of support to boost his damage.

If I Green Garnet, she’ll help increase Sephi’s damage output. Ace, Machina, and Zack and any other char I use will benefit from her auras and buffs as well.

So I was really starting to warm up to the idea of Greening Garnet. Plus, I already have her basically fully built.

Don’t need to farm for her Artifacts or Summon Boards anymore. Don’t need to spend any more Enhancement Points and such for her.

All I really need to do now is Green her Burst weapon which will require 1 Book of Ruin’s Miracles and 3 Ruin’s Ultima Ingots.

If I’m gonna Green Garnet though, then I don’t want to stop at that. I might as well go all-in on building her.

This means upgrading her High Armor (HA) to Blue or HA 3/3 and giving her triple real Spheres.

My Garnet’s HA is already at 0/3 so to Blue it, I just need 3 Refuge’s Ultima Ingots.

Garnet’s Sphere Slots are A, C, and D. If I want her to have the Spheres that are the best for her, then I’m gonna need to Purple or Ex+ 3/3 dupe Ex weapons. That’s because I’ve already used up a lot of the best Spheres I have.

After thinking about it some more, I decided to go for it. Yup, that’s right. Gonna go all-in on building Garnet. Instead of Zack, she’ll be my third BT+ 3/3.

Okay, let’s do this! I started by spending the Ingots needed to upgrade Garnet’s High Armor to Blue.

Then I Purpled the Ex weapons that would give me the Spheres that I wanted to give to Garnet. These weapons belong to the following chars:

Prishe from Final Fantasy XI

Alphinaud Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV

Hope Estheim from Final Fantasy XIII

After getting all these Ex weapons to Ex+ 3/3, I finally turned my attention to Garnet’s Burst weapon.

First, I spent the Book of Ruin’s Miracles needed to Realize it to BT+ 0/3. Doing this gave me 1 Refuge’s Ultima Ingot. Next, I spent the 3 Ingots needed to get Garnet’s BT to Green or BT+ 3/3.

Then I turned my attention to Garnet’s Spheres. I had her equipped with the RF versions of Prishe’s, Alphinaud’s, and Hope’s Spheres.

Now it was time to give Garnet the real versions of those Spheres. The effects of these Spheres are as follows:

Prishe’s (from Final Fantasy XI) Weak Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When attacking target’s weakness: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

My first copy of this Sphere went to Lightning.

Alphinaud Leveilleur’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) Buff Success Base Attack All Shorter C Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party’s INT BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns

Apparently, my first copy of this Sphere went to no one. I thought for sure that I’d already used up my first Alphinaud Sphere so I was really surprised and annoyed when I found out that that wasn’t the case at all.

I only found out when I was trying to equip Garnet with a C Sphere. Argh! What a waste of resources. Should have double-checked and made sure which Spheres I currently had on hand before going off to Purple dupe Ex weapons. Sigh.

Hope Estheim’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Buff Success Attack Boost All Shorter D Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

As can be seen in the pic above, my first copy of this Sphere went to Lightning.

Now my Garnet is fully built and complete.

Update: finally got ‘round to trying Garnet in a Lufenia+ quest (level 250) and wow! She is really good. No regrets Greening her. Gonna try to use her for as long as possible.

The Lufenia+ quest I brought Garnet to was the Crevasse β Pt. 7 one. Her team mates were Sephiroth and Yuna from Final Fantasy X.

Crevasse β Banner 1 Tickets Pulls Results Part 2

I really regret this now but I ended up going back to the Crevasse β banner 1 to toss a couple hundred more tickets, hoping to get Lilisette’s LD and maybe more dupes of Ashe’s Ex and Garnet’s Ex.

Managed to get like 3 more dupes of Ashe’s Ex and 1 dupe of Lilisette’s Ex. Would have preferred to have gotten more dupes of Garnet’s Ex instead.

Sadly, still no Lilisette LD. I really should just leave this banner alone now but I can’t seem to help myself. Ugh. Wish it would just disappear already so I can stop being tempted to toss more tickets here. It’s a waste.

Another thing that’s a waste was how I ended up spending the 2 Ingots needed to Purple Lilisette’s Ex.

I did this because I thought that I’d need her for 1 of the quests in the Crevasse β event but in the end, was able to manage just fine without her. Man, what a waste, especially since I still don’t have Lilisette’s LD. Sigh.

Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 Banner 1

The Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 banner 1 features the following chars and their weapons:

Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX - Burst or BT only

Alisaie Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Keiss from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Y’shtola Rhul from Final Fantasy XIV - 15cp, 35cp, and Ex

Have everything on this banner except for Alisaie’s LD.

Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 Banner 1 Free First Multi-Draw Results

As part of DFFOO’s 4th anniversary, we also get free first multi-draws on the Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 baners.

Banner 1′s free pull only gave me a regular blue orb. So was surprised when I ended up with 4 golds - Keiss’s 15cp, Keiss’s Ex, Keiss’s LD, and Alisaie’s 35cp.

Too bad these were all dupes. Ahh, how I wish that Keiss LD had been Alisaie’s instead.

That Ex should have been hers as well since it gives an A Sphere that increases MAG ATK by 15%.

Thoughts about Alisaie Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV

I like Alisaie but couldn’t justify using gems on the Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 banner 1 because I’m only missing 1 weapon here.

There’s also the fact that I don’t really need Alisaie. She’s pretty good but, at the end of the day, she’s just another DPS, one who doesn’t even have a Burst weapon.

I already have Machina fully built. He and Sephiroth are the DPS I always use for endgame content.

Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 Banner 1 Tickets Pulls Results

So I decided to just use tickets on the Abyss: Perfectum Stratum 6 banner 1. Currently have 728 on hand.

To my surprise, my first 10-draw gave me a dupe of Garnet’s BT. Welp, totally wasn’t expecting that at all.

But this is great. A dupe Burst can be sold for 5 Burst Tokens. You can then exchange 50 Tokens for any 1 BT that’s currently available in the Burst Token Shop.

Anyway, this draw also gave me 2 other golds - a dupe of Y’shtola’s 15cp and a dupe of Keiss’s 15cp.

Kept on pulling. Got the usual bronze and silver trash as well as a few gold dupes.

Then, a few more pulls later, I got another dupe of Keiss’s LD. Was like, no, why’d this have to happen? Before I could get too disappointed though, another item showed up, and it turned out to be -

My very first copy of Alisaie’s LD! Hell, yes! So happy to see this.

After seeing Keiss’s LD, I really thought that I was gonna be disappointed again. So glad Alisaie’s LD showed up on this pull too. And she came home pretty early as well. Still have 678 tickets left when she appeared.

Alisaie Leveilleur from Final Fantasy XIV

Before this banner that featured Alisaie’s LD showed up, I already had her 15cp, 35cp, and Ex fully MLB. Her Ex was Purple or at Ex+ 3/3.

Bought her Bloom Stone and completed all of her Summon Boards. After getting her LD, spent the Power Stones needed to MLB it and get its passive.

Previously, I’d already farmed for Alisaie’s perfect Artifacts - triple ATK 108 with INT BRV 170 and triple ATK 108 with Acceleration Boost★★ (Raises MAX BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns upon using Veraero, Verthunder).

But with the appearance of her LD, Alisaie now wants 3 ATK 108 with MAX BRV 330 Artifacts. So spent some time farming the co-op that showed up with the Abyss: Perfectum event until I finally got triple of the aforementioned Artifacts.

Although I really do like Alisaie, I couldn’t justify spending all the points needed to max out the entirety of her Character Enhancement Boards so I just unlocked the tiles that would give me her LD Call and her LD extension passive.

Ahh, if only the points needed to max out a char’s Boards weren’t so expensive and if only we got more of these points. Since I had the Tokens to spare though, I did go ahead and buy Alisaie’s High Armor.

Also equipped her with triple RF Spheres - Noel Kreiss’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) RF A Sphere, Prishe’s (from Final Fantasy XI) RF A Sphere, and Lyse Hext’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) RF D Sphere.

So far, am enjoying being able to use Alisaie. I may not be bringing her to endgmane content, but at least I can use her for all the other easy content we have.

I’m hoping that she’ll eventually get a Burst weapon so I can pull for it then upgrade it to BT+ 3/3.

Annular Equinox Banner

The Annular Equinox banner features the following chars and their weapons:

Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX - Burst or BT only

Eiko Carol from Final Fantasy IX - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Vivi Ornitier from Final Fantasy IX - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Zidane Tribal from Final Fantasy IX - 15cp, 35cp, and Ex

Have everything on this banner except for Eiko’s LD.

Annular Equinox Banner Free First Multi-Draw Results

As part of DFFOO’s 4th anniv celebration, we also get a free first multi-draw on the Annular Equinox banner.

This free pull gave me a dupe of Vivi’s 15cp. Meh.

Thoughts about Eiko Carol from Final Fantasy IX

Since I’m only missing 1 item from this banner, didn’t want to use gems here, especially since I’m not all that attached to Eiko.

Sure, she’d be nice to have but pretty sure I can manage just fine without her since I do have Garnet as well as a lot of other supports.

Eiko’s another support who can heal and battery the party. She provides decent enough buffs and auras. She can enchant the party and imperil enemies with the holy element.

Eiko is most well-known for her LD and its ability to ignore Lufenia orbs. Her LD gives her an overhead buff.

If a Lufenia orb goes off or if a char or the entire party dies then, as long as Eiko’s overhead buff has at least 1 stack, those who died will automatically be revived.

Annular Equinox Banner Tickets Pulls Results

Currently have 567 tickets on hand thanks to the Prompto and Lilisette banners continuing to tempt me and taking lots of my tickets without having the decency to give me their LDs in return.

So I start pulling and I got the usual bronze and silver trash along with a few gold dupes.

Crevasse β Banner 1 and Banner 2 Tickets Pulls Results

After a particularly annoying pull in which I didn’t get a single gold, I decided to try my luck again on the Prompto and Lilisette banners.

Yeah, I really wish I could leave these 2 alone. As usual, the Prompto banner gave me nothing but disappointment.

On the other hand, the Lilisette banner actually gave me a gold orb. Was hoping for Lilisette’s LD, of course, but thought I was most likely about to get yet another dupe.

At the very least, I hoped that it’d be a dupe of Garnet’s Ex. Already have a lot of Ashe Ex dupes so don’t really want to see any more of these.

So the items started revealing themselves one-by-one. At the end, I was greeted by the sight of this -

My very first copy of Lilisette’s LD! Hell, yes! It’s finally home! So happy to see this. Now I can finally get away from the Crevasse β banner 1.

This draw also gave me a dupe of Ashe’s 35cp. Since I eventually got Lilisette’s LD, at least it doesn’t feel like I wasted all the tickets I tossed in here.

And even if I don’t end up using Lilisette on a Lufenia (quest level 200) or Lufenia+ fight, at least I can use her as a Call. She does have a pretty good Call ability.

Annular Equinox Tickets Pulls Results Part 2

After getting Lilisette’s LD, went back to the Eiko banner. A few more tickets got me a dupe of Vivi’s LD. It came from a gold orb. Ahh, what a troll. If only that had been Eiko’s LD instead. Sigh.

Thankfully, a bit later on, I got another gold orb. Got an LD and, this time, it was the right one.

Super pleased to get my very first copy of Eiko’s LD. Still have 477 tickets left when this showed up.

This 10-pull even gave me 2 more golds - a dupe of Zidane’s 35cp and a dupe of Vivi’s Ex.

Conclusion

So, what about you? Did you pull on any of these banners? What do you think about Garnet and all the other chars featured on these banners? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account

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faithfromanewperspective · 1 year ago

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I’m so glad you had fun!! makes me feel less like I’m flexing my projects. First up I have to say: you are a musician!!! You’re not allowed to say that you’re not otherwise I will start thinking about 5sosxlondon symphony orchestra and I will cry. I find it so cool how you grew up around all that and just absorbed it all especially as the production side of things is probably the area of music I know least about!! It gets like that when you grow up playing with amateur musicians imo. You get complacent sometimes because it’s the only way to put up with how you sound as kids or even in the first few rehearsals when you’re all sight reading the music—like it gets better quickly but still. We’re often missing entire parts until the concert too and only get to hear them all together in the soundcheck. Honestly, I envy musicians who train themselves to sing/play the same songs over and over again and get so confident with them it can be all about the audience and really fine tuning the sounds!! It really is a different world, and it shouldn’t be. Music is music imo and there’s a whole lot of elitism in classical circles that we’d all do better without.

I love love LOVE your idea for vapor->lie to me (I’ve seen the connection story wise between them for a while and the way it leads so well into the teeth/twl/nitsw story) and then wwylm and bad omens!!! I’m def gonna give that one a go. Especially as we’ve got RAH versions of two of them which I absolutely love!! Can’t say when it’ll happen but for your question about how you adjust them to fit together vs how I do, I sometimes change the key sometimes modulate between keys depending (I’m really still messing around here).

for wildflower and high, I remember noticing their chord patterns were similar and I can’t remember if I changed the key of either of them to fit. I think I did it quite hurriedly and there’s a lot of touching up to do still and I might change which instruments have the melody in some cases and add in some harmonies or smth. I do find the intro quite clunky and I’m hoping to rejig it so best years flows over (maybe I will add kill my time. maybe that’s what it needs. idk. I’m also kinda thinking of overlaying a bit of best years into red desert). Anyway as you can tell it’s still a work in progress. One I really enjoy talking about!! Unfortunately I still haven’t figured out if you can send mp3s and musescore files or even pdfs of the score on tumblr, and I do know that not everyone is comfortable sharing their email or other ways of contacting them like fb messenger that these files can be sent by. I could attempt a screen capture video but I really have no idea how to do that and the concerto is 23 minutes long, so that file would be crazy huge and I don’t think it’d upload anywhere anyway. If you are comfortable though I will send it to you if you dm me your email! But no pressure of course!!

and thank you. For some reason I thought you were referring to two separate songs and was like ‘hmm the only one left is daylight and I’m pre sure that’s Not It’ (also like did they call Twilight scifi in it? That’s hilarious. The song is hilarious whether they did or not though and very clever imo). but yes I really do love your analyses and think we should talk more about their songs in that way!! Because they do have that substance that’s worth discussing and incredible music behind it (did you watch Ashton’s drumeo interview??) anyway I love all your other song progression ideas as well and I wish I could do all of them but I do need to be conscious of how much I commit to!! But I’ll never say never. And I hope you keep up your guitar and singing and telling your stories with your covers too (to me that’s the essence of being a musician)

I just came across your analyses of all the 5sos albums and can I just say: chefs kiss. amazing. from the way you approach them both musically and lyrically (are you a musician? you have a very good ear) to being able to tell who is singing which part of the harmony (when there’s more than 2 singing at once I have No Idea, and even when there’s just 2 I’m still a little hit and miss). so grateful you exist and did them!!! not only for my enjoyment purposes but also because of my crazy projects I’m about to tell you about just in case you’re interested

anyway, it started with the RAH version of teeth. I’m a classically trained violist, I’ve played in many orchestras, I looked and asked everywhere I could think of just to lay my hands on something like the score so I could maybe pull some musician friends together and play it. No avail. Then, sleep deprived and slightly manic and very unmotivated in the middle of writing my honours thesis I must’ve played that bass riff when messing around on my viola and was like ‘this isn’t even hard let me just open musescore’ and decided Luke’s voice best fit the cello and calum the viola and six hours later it was a whole orchestral piece with the riffs passing around the upper strings like the RAH version and also woodwind and brass instruments somehow and then the bass riff led me straight into thin white lies which quickly morphed into NITSW (and can I just say that bridge is the best thing ever when played by strings) and I was like, this is telling a story. That became the first movement of the concerto.

second movement had to start with the flutes playing the piano intro of lover of mine, then I borrowed ghost of you from youngblood and threw in lonely heart, all the ones in vaguely 3’s as far as timing goes went in, all satisfactorily longing (if mvmt 1 is Relationship Angst) ending on a reprise of ghost of you chorus a semitone up (I’m not even sure anymore tbh, it’s def less cohesive but pretty I think) and I tried to copy its RAH intro as an outro. By then I realised I wanted to make the third movement about self discovery that ended on red desert because the album is just SO SAD and it deserved a happy ending and I wanted to try fit as many songs from the album in as I could (no shame and kill my time didn’t fit thematically unfortunately and easier should’ve been in movement 1 but sonically it just didn’t go, at least not yet I’m open to attempting to incorporate any of those songs) so started with old me. I realised I could overlay it with best years. Weird choice I know but the chords and melody worked well enough (and I still don’t think best years has been brought to justice ngl). Then I overlaid wildflower with high which is surprisingly a combination that I love, and it worked music wise and I thought they offset each other alright?? I’m still not quite sure where I’m going with it yet. but then comes red desert and I did the RAH intro and the whole song with harmonies (does get repetitive and idk what to do with that yet) and it’s like. yay, I gave CALM a happy ending.

I guess what I’m asking is I want to do more of these for more of their albums or combination of them (like they’re genuinely so fascinating from a musical and storytelling lens I can’t get enough) and I’ve got some ideas but I want to hear if you have anything you can just hear coming after each other. like complete mess and red line or smth?? even moodswings and space between a rock and a hard place?? idk. just ideas. throw them all at me. I’ll do it and dedicate it to you

Okay, first, no, not a musician, it's just that my dad was a dj, so i grew up around a lot of sound equipment because he's very particular about sound quality and that totally developed my ear for that type of stuff and my interest for music is that much more intense because of it (i did teach myself how to play the guitar and i do sing, but, like, i don't have any real training) and I really appreciate you coming here to say these, because i have a lot of fun writing those. Also I saw your tags, don't know if you ever figured it out but the milf anthem is mrs all american lol

Second, I'm desperate to hear what you did with calm, from the description alone it feels like something impressive, I'm very interested to see how you overlayed high and wildflower because i can see it, but i can't really imagine how that would actually work sokaosksokas

And third, I actually have quite a few smaller combos i like to push together (i went through a mashup phase when i was learning how to play 5sos songs lol) but i usually go from lyrics and adjust the guitar to fit my voice, i have no idea how that could work for you, but one i always do is vapor -> lie to me -> why wont you love me -> bad omens (it used to be high at the end, but then they dropped bad omens and i liked the way that narratively bad omens closed the loop, you end up trapped in the relationship you know it's not working I like that a lot for this combo), i have a few weirder ones, that are mostly the ones that i never fully managed to make it work but i think they could, like moodswings into bleach, story of another us into close as strangers, i know you saw my post about rearranging 5sos5 to tell a story and for some reason i think you can overlay caramel and bad omens, and red line and you don't go to parties (this one i admitedlly don't really know, but i think the red line riff with the ydgtp riff could be something, just a feeling lol), there's the rhythm section mashup, tomorrow never dies -> babylon -> tears, that I think you can make something with the bass in all of them, for some reason vapor and me myself and i, talk fast -> not in the same way -> blender -> kill my time, this one i think its cool because of the 80s pop of the melodies and the progression of the story with the lyrics, lover of mine -> best years -> older -> ghost of you, again you have the narrative and i think the piano can work all of there to make this tragic love song. And this is everything i can think of right now, but i will probably think of more as soon as i hit post tho soaskookasas

But seriously, this sounds really cool, please let me know how it progresses <3

#this is the project I keep talking about guys #music arrangements #my arrangements #song arrangements #<-I really should sort out my tags #5 seconds of summer #tysm for the lovely reply!!

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binniesthighs · 4 years ago

Text

call me babydoll | reader x chan

a/n: ahhhhh holy holy heck this chapter is SO DAMN EXCITING hehehe I had sosososo much writing and doing all the research!! please let me know if there is anything factual/cultural that I need to fix! I tried the best I could although I most def am not an expert in Egyptian culture so I appreciate it a lot :) hehe i hope ya have fun reading this chapter teehee oh! also I love hearing what you thought of it too! :D

Four

Pairing: self insert, female reader x bang chan

Genre: action, mystery and suspense, fluff, smut, angst

Tags: (of this part) bodyguard au, secret agent au, royal au, moderndayprince!chan, secretagent!reader, secretagent!jeongin, secretagent!jisung, collegestudent!seungmin, royal!minho, skz side characters, adventure and mystery, action and peril, plot driven, running out of time, slow-ish burn, growing feelings, sexual tension, explicit language, several mentions of food and alcohol as well as getting tipsy/drunk that good, good making out, suggestive themes

CWs: mentions of guns, mentions of knives, themes of jealousy (expressed by the reader)

Word count: 7.5k

Parts

ONE | TWO | THREE | FOUR | FIVE

“Well, we’re in Cairo alright.”

Two tugged the amazed young stow-away-student, Seungmin, by the hand of his backpack to keep him from running into one of the palm tree planters decorating the terminal. The young man had nearly slept the whole flight due to the length as well as the exasperation that he had just been through. While his eyes were still darkened from his nap, his glossy pupils still wondered all around him.

“I take it back. I’m so glad that I almost died so I could end up here with you guys.”

Jeongin slapped him from the backside of his head. “Never be thankful for almost dying. Life is a lot more fucking fragile than you think. This isn’t just some joyride--”

“--Ease up F.” You interrupted your partner as you shouldered your bag. The kid had already been through enough already: he didn’t need accosting on top of it all.

The dashing prince sighed out and stretched his arms. “Ahhhh Cairo. It’s been a while; too long actually.”

The airport was humid: the kind of sticky warmth that dripped down your neck in a matter of seconds to then get caught above your lip. It wasn’t much help to the anxiety that already had seeped into your veins. The closer you got to a gun the more comfortable you would be. You and the other two guards created a formation around the prince with two in the front and the other in the flank. While each of you were dressed in regular street clothes, your responsibility of his detail still hung over your head with a severe air.

Chan threw his arm over the young student with an obscene grin. His hair had become a little disheveled from the plane seat and his hoodie, but he didn’t appear to mind. Seeing him so normal was somewhat of an odd change to your previous unbreakable impression of him.

“Seungmin my friend, you’ve never lived until you’ve been to Cairo. I’ve never seen another place so enriched in history in my whole life...it puts my kingdom to shame. It’s almost like...you can just feel the time here: hundreds of thousands of years...beauty, art, food, industry...I’ve got a thing or two to learn.”

Seungmin nodded at the prince’s grandiose gestures in the terminal with an enamored smile. “I can’t wait to see it!”

Your partner put a firm hand on the prince’s back to guide him to the baggage claim. “We won’t be here for long, so, don’t get too excited. We’ve come here for one reason and we shouldn’t dally otherwise.”

The young boy appeared to frown, and Two bit his lip with a little chuckle. “Way to crush the kids dreams F.”

“You know the mission, J.” Jeongin gritted his teeth with the words. “Everything is set, there will be a car waiting for us in the garage, and at the hotel we’ll have anything we need.”

Prince Chan lulled his head back with heels clicking on the flooring. Rogue strands of his hair hung over his sunglasses where he threw a look back at you while pulling them down.

“Don’t forget our little deal Bee? We’ll have time for a little pleasure.”

The white haired agent rolled his eyes with gusto then adjusted the royal’s glasses over his face. “We’ve still got to be careful, you Highness. We never know where they could have eyes.”

“I know where I’ve got mine...” He turned back once more to throw his cockiness in your general direction.

“Listen to F, your Highness...if you want to live.”

“Oooo. Feisty as ever, Bee. I love it when you bite back.” Chan turned to his new pet, Seungmin, “She’s really something isn’t she?”

The young man nodded, but not necessarily because he agreed, but it just seemed like it better to agree with a prince than to disagree with him.

The air appeared to turn even thicker in the summery and arid city and your group approached the parking lot half shaded. Outside of the cement lot, iridescent waves of heat wiggled on the horizon, and further, the astonishing urban sprawl of Cairo, and just over it, the stretch of the Nile and Giza. Palms and other varieties of plants spotted the landscape and above it all, a perfectly crystal blue sky streaked with thin clouds. Had the circumstances been different, you really would have wished to have been there for pleasure.

“This one. Right here.” Jeongin announced upon spotting the black armored sedan. It wasn’t the most inconspicuous vehicle, but you were prioritizing safety over aesthetics. Your partner touched his index fingerprint to the car door’s invisible panel, and it flashed blue just as the lock had at the safehouse with the ticking clock insignia.

Two whipped his head around to make one last check of the surroundings before taking off his sunglasses and reddened eye. “Get in. Both of you.” He urged the prince and the student. He popped the drivers side open to find a different pair of glasses in the storage compartment: gold framed aviators.

“Huh,” He said happily while putting them on. “This is more my style.” He rummaged around a bit more to find a new pair of black framed glasses there too. “Fox! Think fast!” He threw them over to your partner who sighed out with relief.

“Thank god.”

The trunk opened with a mechanical sounding creek, and you lifted up the trunk bed to find your whole arsenal: Heckler & Koch MP5′s submachines, Remington 870 shotguns, and Glocks complete with thigh holsters. Among the pile of metal, various knives and other weapons were held in foam holders.

“They’ve got knives back there?” Two asked while pulling the rearview mirror to see.

“Oh yeah. What? You more of a knife guy?” You teased while looping your thigh holster over your cargo pants. It fit just right.

The illusive man popped his gum with a shiny smile. “‘Don’t ever have to reload them...that’s what I’m saying.”

“Thank you Carroll.” Jeongin sighed upon seeing the thick laptop among the weapons. “Finally I can do some real work. That kid’s damn Chromebook was killing me. I nearly short circuited it trying to connect to our network.”

“You what?!” Seungmin was suddenly much more interested.

“Dont worry yourself too much, its still fine.”

“Are there cameras in here?” You quickly asked your partner.

“Agency should’ve fried them a long time ago. Why?”

From the trunk bed you sized up the Glock to feel its weight and how cool it settled into your sweating hand. You unloaded the magazine to see that it had already been filled.

“Carroll. She really is too kind to us.” You slid the magazine back in then, pulled back the slider to lock it once more, catching Chan’s adoring glance.

“Something interesting pretty boy?”

The prince appeared to shiver a little, but brushed it off sighing, “Oh, nothing.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Either it was Carroll or the King, but someone had spared no expense on the young prince. The sun set upon the sparking Nile where you had arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel Cairo at Nile Plaza.

Anything for His Royal Highness The Prince.

The towering and gleaming building was a sight to behold in and of itself. It was nestled right into the riverside anchored with several leisurely sailboats bopping in the evening breeze. As day crept into night, the city grew with a swell of lights washing as far as you could see. Extensive bridges and roadways glowed with headlights and every building appeared to be illuminated along with more boats strolling down the river in a rainbow of colors and music.

The prince craned his head as close to the window as he could and rubbed together his hands excitedly. He looked from you to your partners, finally making a disapproving scoff.

“Come on. You’re not just a little excited to be here?”

“We’re here on business, how many times do we have to explain?” Jeongin typed away at his computer from the front seat.

“Bee?” He looked back to you with a hopeful little glint to his eye.

“Like Fox said...tomorrow is our appointment with White Rabbit, then we’re on the first flight back home for you.”

The young prince frowned, but this quickly faded once he had seen the golden brass doors to the magnificent hotel. Seeing the state that the four of you were in, it was a bit comical that you had rolled up to a place such as this. Immediately a valet and bellhop jogged up to the car wearing perfectly pressed uniforms and spotless shined shoes. Little did they know you had no belongings to your name...the rest was waiting in your suite: the royal kind.

Seungmin cranked his neck to take in the scale of the building in all of it’s regal glory and let out an airy laugh his with his backpack straps snapped tight.

“Holy shit.” He exclaimed with a giant smile

Two rose a “no thank you” hand to the valet, and asked him where the garage was in perfect Arabic. The gesture surprised you...as many things did with that man. Jeongin gave a little nod in appreciation to the bellhop and expressed with his own broken version of Arabic that you group had no luggage. The young man was confused, but still gladly took the bills that Jeongin had slipped into his hand for the inconvenience.

“We’re staying here?” Seungmin wondered while he followed you in.

“When you travel with The Prince, it comes with some perks.” Chan tore off his glasses with a particularly prideful grin.

“I feel like I need to pay for just...breathing in here.”

Indeed, it was a luxurious and grand place. The atrium was patterned with various plush lounge chairs and benches and the path was made of emerald green marble tiles with swirling designs of beige loops. Thick, round columns also supported the ceilings in the lobby, and crystal glass chandeliers sparkled. On several tables, massive floral arrangements had been freshly placed, and you wondered how much the hotel must've paid for them to look that good just to have them replaced the next day.

A couple formalities were exchanged with the worker at the front desk, and soon the keycards to the royal suite were placed into your hands. Seungmin held his piece of plastic as if it were a gold bar in his hands whereas Chan shoved it right into his front pocket.

“Everything that we should need should be up in the room.” You told the group who were too distracted to hear what you had just said.

Just before you had entered the elevator, a tug at your sleeve stopped you in your tracks. Jeongin pulled you back, nodding at Two to go with the others up first.

“Remember what we talked about before?” He muttered in the hollow and stone corridor. “About the prince?”

“I need to stay beside him?”

Your partner nodded with a furrowing brow. “We’re out in the open here, it’s a big city...anyone could be watching us. No distractions, no messing around, no anything. We see White Rabbit and we leave. Hell, I’m even inclined to make sure he doesn’t leave the room...”

“Jeongin...” You squeezed your partner’s shoulder which felt stringy and tense under your fingertips. “I got it. Trust me. He won’t leave my sight. I promise.”

“..Okay.” He said with a nervous brush to his hair, then he pressed the elevator button with his knuckle.

“You...okay?”

The young man appeared to snap out of a trance. “What? ...Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? I’m keeping it together fine. It’s just...there’s a lot riding on this mission. I don’t...”

The gold and reflective elevator dinged to the ground floor.

“We can’t disappoint Carroll with this one. There’s too much riding on it...I can’t disappoint Carroll.”

You invited your partner into the marbled and mirrored interior of the small space.

“Don’t worry, we won’t.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

Even without the help of his royal helpers, Chan managed to clean himself up nice...provided, only the finest clothes had been sent for him to wear. While they weren’t the usual designer labels that he was used to, it was clear that they had been picked out from the finest markets and boutiques in the area. Chan, as he always was, was a prince to the full extent of the word. After a shower and some perfume to his chest, he was the same man that you had been introduced to.

A loose linen shirt swayed from his frame with little regard for the usage of buttons. He wore slacks that had been pressed made of a kind of fabric that you had never seen before, but looked airy and comfortable. As always, there was a small assortment of shoes for him to choose from as well. He picked brown leather loafers, then tucked up his sleeves to reveal his arms; scratched as they were, but still strong and spiderwebbed with thick veins.

Arrangements had been made for you to share one of the bedrooms with him--as much as you had fought it at first. Chan was thrilled with the idea, and gladly let you settle into his room with your small assortment of sidepieces and modest set of clothes by regulation of The Agency. While it had mostly been denim button downs and several kinds of functional trousers, they had sent an evening gown.

The silky white fabric was not unlike the dress that had worn for the gala, but it appeared to be even more sultry once you held it to your frame. The thin spaghetti straps barely held to your shoulders and the back dipped nearly halfway down your back.

Knowing the man that you had an appointment with, you figured the dress would make it just a little bit easier to talk to him. Along with it, there was a matching set of diamond earrings and a necklace that glinted with the same sheen of the sea.

“You’ll look gorgeous in that.” Chan said while slipping on a wristwatch. “I’m sure that it will suit you perfectly.”

The wooden bedside nightstand creaked when you put your holster and Glock in with a matching matte black knife. You had to be careful with that one, as it had nearly cut your finger upon inspection earlier.

“Hm. I think the both of us know that you’d prefer it on these lovely marble floors rather than on me. Correct?”

The confident prince strode across the room in the dim lighting of a couple lamps with stained glass shades. Outside of the balcony attached to your room, the sheer curtains blew in the night air and distorted the city lights across the river. Further, Cairo Tower surged with a pink light wrapping around the length were the cylinder pierced the sky.

“Maybe.” He tutted, then crinkled the king-sized bed where he sat. The prince’s disposition was alluring, there was no denying. He tiled his head to inspect you further, jaw clenching with a sharp angle and a testing glare to his brown pupils. The man smiled slightly while rubbing his index and ring finger down the sleeve of your considerably less scratchy blouse.

“I hope that during our time here Bee, I’ll get to know you a little better. I’m...really looking forward to our drink later. I made reservations for us.”

“Reservations? When did you do that?”

“Oh. When you were showering.” He smirked at his sneaky plans unbeknownst to you.

“If you think that I’m letting you go anywhere else besides this hotel--”

“--Bee?” The young royal grew quieter, softer, careful even. His hand cascaded from your arm down to your waist where he tentatively went to grab at your hip and squeeze lightly there.

While your first reaction was to swat him away, your second crept up on you unexpectedly, and swelled with a kind of confused euphoria feeling the pressure of him on your body. You let his hand linger there, thumb pressed into your hipbone.

“You don’t need that dress to be beautiful.”

His words snapped you back; sickly sweet, and sticky in your chest. You cast his hand off of you.

“You’re crossing the line, your Highness. Don’t...don’t touch me again.”

The royal sighed as he rose, then inspected his face in the sizeable mirror. Each of his cuts and scars had been skillfully covered with makeup the best he could manage.

“Bee, I’d cross multiple lines for you. I thought you knew?”

“THIS BED IS FUCKIN’ AMAZING!!” Seungmin called from the opposite of the suite.

The prince smiled, then followed you to the door.

“I’ve already got enough on my hands, your Highness. I ask that you not distract me.”

“Distract you?”

As soon as you had said it, regret bit at the tips of your ears. You couldn’t meet his teasing glances, but rather slid one of your more discrete sidepieces into your crossbody bag--as if guns as such could be such a thing.

“I-I...I’ll sleep on the couch.” You then resolved out loud, however the prince chuckled at your sudden break.

“As you wish Bee.”

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

“I think that this is the best meal that I’ve ever eaten in my entire life!!”

Seungmin kicked his legs under the table to the embarrassed glances of both Jeongin and Chan. Before you, the prince had ordered a variety of both cold and hot mezzah dishes with a couple main entrees for you to share. While he was the only one to drink, he indulged in the most expensive wine that the hotel had to offer. Granted, everything would be paid for in cash from The Agency, however the Prince swore up and down that anyone could order anything that they wanted and that The Agency would be paid back in full. You and your partners ate modestly, however the young student didn’t hold back. As the boy shoved his face, it appeared to make the prince happy to see him eating so well.

You were still an odd group, and garnered curious glances from other restaurant guests. While they were only glances in passing, they still didn’t make you feel any better. You had already drawn enough attention to yourself with you being an odd mix of foreigners who each held themselves differently. You could sense that you partner felt it too while he sipped at his seasonal soup with eyes up to scan the room as he did so.

Chan threw his arm behind your chair to take in the rest of the room: perfectly decorated with jade green chandeliers and perfectly symmetrical wallpaper and furnishings. It was as if he felt somehow content with your strange little group; like he was the ringleader of it all or some king of the round table. For a moment, he paused to watch the way that the boats passed by on the river from the window nearest to him and sighed. Knowing him, he was probably enjoying running for his life in this way.

Two cleared his throat and unbuttoned his fashionable suit jacket as the waiters came to clear the table for dessert.

“So. What are the specs for tomorrow?”

Jeongin fiddled with his glasses, then dabbed away at the corners of his mouth. “He’s invited us to come around 11pm. He wants us to dress up too--as I’m sure you’ve all seen the clothes that have been provided for us. He apparently loves his formalities, but, anything to make him feel more comfortable I suppose. His men will meet us in the front and take us to him, then we try our best not to fuck it up.”

“--Which we won’t.” You soothed your partner.

Seungmin perked up, “I’m coming too?”

“How else are we going to look after ya, kid?” Two ruffled up the young man’s hair.

“W-wait. Didn’t you say that it’s a club? Will they even let me in? I’m not like, 21 yet? I mean, I will be in a couple months--”

“--Ahhh you’re so cute.” Chan beamed. “If you’re rolling with us that doesn’t matter.”

Seungmin blushed and played with the condensation of his water glass. “Oh.”

Your partner shifted in his seat. “Speaking of. Considering that you’re “one of us” now. We need to discuss something important with you. Your identity.” He looked over to you to finish the rest of the speech that had been pushed off for just a bit too long.

“Your name...is your most valuable asset. It’s the only thing about yourself that you can keep for yourself. No one else should know it besides you...and, well, us. If they know your name, they know your family, they know where you live, where you go to school, even that girl that you had a crush on in the fourth grade. Got it?”

Seungmin gulped dry with blown out eyes. “I-I think that I understand.”

“What do you want us to call you from now on?”

He paused, considering towards the ceiling. ”Well...if you’re B, and he’s F...and he’s J...I could be S? Simple enough right?”

“S it is then.”

The waiters arrived with every dessert possible: chocolate cake, Crème Brule, fruit cheesecake garnished with mint, as well as traditional desserts like Om Ali and Mehalabiya--a type of milk pudding dressed with delicate, pink, edible flowers.

Seungmin--now dubbed S--made happy little eating sounds while he tried a little bit of everything.

“Thank you.” You finally spoke to the prince, who now smelled strongly of Lotus and Jasmine.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t mind treating my friends.”

The word hung in the air, and you didn’t quite know what to do with it.

Friends.

“Where is this reservation that you mentioned?”

He took a swing from his crystal glass with finesse. “Hm. That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“Jeongin told me that I need to keep an eye on you, you know that? It would be best if we didn’t leave the hotel at all--”

“--But what would be the fun in that?” The prince nearly pouted.

From the others side of the table, Two in his aviators brushed off his lap before standing. “I’m going to get some sleep, if that’s alright with you? I’m feeling pretty jetlagged and I want to be prepared for tomorrow. Excuse me.”

The slender man bowed to you at the table, then even deeper to the prince.

“What was that about?” Jeongin muttered while he poked at the thin caramel layer of his French dessert.

“Actually, I think I want to head to bed too, I’m stuffed.” Seungmin rubbed his belly in his contentment. “Also...I think I might have homework due...heh. I don’t know...I’ve got to figure out all these all these time differences and stuff.” He pushed in his chair then gave the prince a deep bow. “Thank you, your Highness.”

“My pleasure.” Chan said with a tiny bow back. “Rest up, kid.”

With the empty holes at the table, the silence was deafening.

“And then there were three.” Jeongin yawned. “Bee? Wanna do some laps in the morning? I saw that they had a pool? Wanna see if you can beat my record...again?”

“Psh. I was coming off that biochemical cocktail the last time we tired. You had an advantage.”

“Then you’ll beat me? Hm! I look forward to that.” Your adorable partner flashed the first smile that you’d seen in a couple days. You missed it, you realized.

“Sleep tight Bee. Goodnight your Highness.”

“Thank you Fox.” The prince mirrored his warm smile.

Knives and forks clinked on china in the dining room, and music softly payed the soundtrack of the evening. A low hum filled the space where the tourists and patrons chatted among themselves. It was peaceful and normal amidst everything that had been pricking your skin and plaguing worry over your mind. The prince merely sighed, sparking eyes reflecting the candles dying out on the table.

“And now it’s just the two of us.”

“Seems like it.”

“Can I whisk you away now?”

“Whisk? Who said that I would allow any whisking?”

“Come on...Bee. Just this one time? I promise to be on my best behavior.”

You laughed out incredulously at the comment. “You out of all people can’t promise something like that.”

“I guess you’re right about that. But...still, I won’t try to make a scene or anything.”

The royal placed his napkin on the table with his knife and fork respectfully tilted off the edge of his plate.

“Follow me?”

Chan held out his hand. It was pink with heat and scraped a little from the glass that had pierced the fragile flesh. In some way, you had felt a twinge of guilt seeing the small injury knowing that you couldn’t have protected him well enough then. You allowed him to lace your fingers with yours, and felt the rough cuts of his scars in your palm.

You had promised to yourself that he would never know such pain again.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

“Annnd...this is it!”

You had taken all of twenty paces outside of the hotel when Chan gestured with open arms to the riverfront. Just at the riverbank, a steamboat was anchored with open doors for hotel guests to enter. The massive, multideck, white steamboat shone like the moon peaking at the ocean’s horizon. Each of the semi-circle windows were lined with white lights and from the inside, the delightful sound of laugher and live music spilled out to the glossy water of the Nile.

“W-what is this?”

“Well…it’s a dinner cruise but I just signed us up for the bar part. Are you...surprised? I thought that it must be pretty safe considering that we’re on the water and no one can drive up and shoot at us.”

“I mean...it’s a bit closed off, but nothing that I can’t handle.”

The prince held out his arm for you to lead the way, then took your hand to help you watch your step down the stairs. Chan provided his name to the conductor in elegant sounding Arabic, leaving you shocked.

“Y-you speak Arabic too?”

Chan chuckled once more, taking your hand in his to bring you down the creaking wood deck with swinging with lanterns above your heads.

“As a royal and diplomat, it’s best for me to know how to communicate if I might need to.”

“I must say your Highness, I am definitely impressed.”

“What? You thought I was just another pretty face?” The charming prince escorted you to a room within the steamboat that was lined with red velvet carpets and small bar tables with tea candles and water lilies floating in a shallow dish. He pulled out your chair before his own, then settled with hands folded in his lap. “I’m trained in hand-to-hand too, although I could use a refresher; that was so long ago, back when I went to school.”

“Hand-to-hand? Well! You really are full of surprises.”

The prince appeared smug and faintly amused by the compliment as he crossed his legs under the table and leaned in with his dizzying floral scent.

The waitress appeared and Chan flexed his language skills once more while he ordered a Hemmingway Daiquiri for himself and a French 75 for you. Somewhere off in the distance or perhaps a different part of the boat, louder and more excitable music played along with the echoing claps of those who listened along. Here, it was much quieter, and the loud sound was replaced with a jazz song that you had heard before--likely from your more formative years.

“It’s a beautiful night.” Chan began, “Thank you for agreeing to do this with me. I know that I’ve been a bit forward, but, I appreciate you entertaining me.”

“If I had said no, what would’ve happened then?”

“Well, maybe I would’ve dropped it, but...knowing you...I don’t think that I would’ve given up easily.”

The waitress returned with the drinks on a silver platter: his grapefruit pink and yours the color of a lemon drop.

The royal rose his glass for you to clink with yours, “To...adventures.”

“To adventures.”

With a resounding sound, the glasses met, and you watched the way that the shimmering liquid ripped across the prince’s nose.

The two of you sat for several moments more, saying nothing, but sipping and soaking in the night breeze and the humidity that made your whole body feel blanketed with a sense of calm. You had felt this way before back at the safe house, and it snuck up on you once more. Simply exisiting with the prince provided you with a sense of solace that had long since faded from your life. The sense of responsibility that you felt for the man was noticeable, but you couldn’t help but notice how he provided for you the same sense of safety that you did for him.

Perhaps it was the loneliness of the job and the solitude that came along with it. Was that you craved to be touched? Listened to? Admired? You had distanced yourself from irrational things such as love and other feelings of attachment. In your line of work, people died often, and you had to move on just as fast as their lives had been taken from them. You supposed that you had become unfeeling at this point...but this prince, so full of himself and focused on the material...there was something about him that reminded you how to feel.

“Bee? What are you thinking about?” He asked carefully.

“Oh...nothing.”

“You looked kind of lost here.”

“Was I?”

“You okay?”

“Yeah...yeah. I’m fine. Maybe the drink is just...getting to me.”

“Just one drink?” Chan giggled a bit, “I didn’t take you for being a lightweight Bee. I thought that they gave you like, drinking lessons or something back at that agency of yours.”

“I’m fine. I shouldn’t have more than one drink anyway.”

The prince nodded, understanding. “So, what will you tell me about yourself? Is there anything that you’re allowed to tell me? Or...will you always be this mysterious, beautiful, enigma?”

“Me? Enigmatic? Ha! Hardly.”

“Well? What then?” The prince sucked at the lime garnishing his glass. “Since I don’t have the pleasure of knowing your real name, I’d love it if you could tell me something.”

Over the stereo, the muted trumpet played along with the twang of thick upright bass strings,

“I suppose I could tell you how...” Chan leaned in, “I didn’t want to join The Agency. At first.”

“Oh? Why’s that?”

“It felt like a bit of a last resort and anything that is a last resort is something that can’t come easy.”

Chan titled his head as if to say, I’m listening.

“Life...fucking sucks sometimes. Sometimes...you’re left...living with your sleazy uncle with a letter addressed to you post mortem telling you to carry on the family name if you want to feel some connection to the parents that you never knew.”

The royal cast his eyes down, “I-I’m so sorry.”

“The Agency has been everything I’ve known since I was a teenager. This life...it’s everything. I think in a way I feel obligated to it...since it was what took my parents from me...I owe it to them to do a job that they spent so much energy on so that it wasn’t in vain.”

You stopped, realizing the weight of your words in the air and how they cut like the blade of the knife that you kept tucked in your waistband sheathed in a leather cover. Once the sharp metal was taken from it’s confines, there was nothing to protect those from the damage it could do.

“Bee...I don’t know what to say besides I’m sorry. That’s terrible. I can’t imagine what it must be like to loose your parents and have been thrown into this life...no one deserves that.”

“Its okay.” You sighed. “I did it to myself. Now, it’s of no concern. I can take care of my own, and I have a new family. I try not to look back.”

As he had done numerous times before that night, Chan’s hand reached out for yours under the table, brushing up against the white cloth.

“I can’t say how much I appreciate you enough for what you do; risking your life for me...I owe you everything Bee.” The prince softened, rubbing his thumb against the back of your hand.

The chug of the steamboat hissed softly behind you in that back bar room, and just through the windows, you could see the stars dotting the sky just as they did in any corner of the world. They were a reminder that while some things changed, others didn’t.

The echo of footsteps on the deck clicked, causing you to turn a careful glance back to the direction of the sound. The man who entered was dressed in a casual cotton button up and navy slacks. On the white of his breast, he wore a pin holding the symbol of a crest.

“Lee Minho?” Chan gasped.

“Your Highness!” The handsome man bowed immediately with a startled little smile.

The friendly prince stood immediately upon seeing the other royal to shake his hand. “What a coincidence that we meet again!”

Lee Minho shied with a polite smile while fiddling with his hair that looked to be masterfully styled. “Must be...fated. Or something like that.”

“Are you alright? Last I saw you was at the shooting at the gala. I’m so glad to see that you’re safe. You didn’t get injured I hope?”

This close, Lee Minho had oddly cat-like eyes that were as intense as they were alluring. He was just as you had remembered him to be--put together and polished like a true royal, dastardly handsome with all the right curves to his body, and just enough mystery to him to pique the interest of anyone who had sensed his air--just as the prince had.

“What are you doing in Cairo?” Chan asked, gesturing for the stranger to pull up a chair.

Lee Minho swatted away the question with an annoyed cringe. “Royal stuff, you know how it goes. Everyone is always trying to poke their noses in places where they shouldn’t be...unless they’re looking to get themselves killed. That's why they send me. I’m dispensable.”

“Oh, I’d hardly say that.”

In seconds the prince’s entire body had shifted towards the direction of the other man, and hung onto each of his words as if they were a siren song.

“When you’re not as high up in the ranks as you are your Highness, royalty starts to feel more like servitude than a legitimate position.”

“So, where are you poking your nose?”

Lee Minho’s eyes nervously flicked to you, and Chan realized that he had skipped right over introductions.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce the two of you. Minho, this is Bee, my--”

“--I’m a member of his detail.” You spoke for him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you formally Lee Minho. I recall seeing you at the gala.”

Minho bowed slightly, “It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”

It was obvious that you had made the man uncomfortable, just as you had liked it to be. While you could see what the prince had seen in him, you had the disposition to be much less trusting than his Highness.

“Which royals are employing you? I’d love to know! It’s always exciting for me to learn about who is plotting what. The royal drama keeps me really entertained.”

Minho sat up straighter, then waved a hand for the waitress to come scuttling over.

“Some of my family members. You wouldn’t know them, we’re all dreadfully insignificant to be honest. They heard all this business about those men with the red crests and they’re starting to get scared. After they targeted...you, they’re wondering which royal family might be next...if any. I’m here to find out who they are, their whereabouts, anything else.”

“Wow! That’s actually what we--”

“--And where are you planning on getting this information if I may ask?” You hushed the prince’s loose lips as quickly as you could.

Minho leaned in over the flickering candle to lower his tone, “I heard that there’s an informant here in the city who might now something about this group. They’ve been popping up on national news too as of late. I’m looking to talk to him tomorrow evening. Luckily, I was able to make an appointment but it was no small feat. I had to bribe him to high hell to get him to speak with me.”

“Hm. Sounds familiar.” You mumbled.

Chan’s eyes widened, then he looked back to you to ask for permission. You gave him a nod.

“It seems like we’re here for a common purpose my friend.” The prince leaned in to bridge the gap between them, his hand notably reaching to rest on the other man’s thigh below the table’s surface. “We’re seeking similar information and I think we might be speaking of the same informant.”

“But your Highness, isn’t it dangerous it you to do something like this?”

“Not when I’ve got her around.” Chan threw a sly grin to you across the table. “I’m well protected. And you? Where’s your detail?”

“I’m afraid that I’m out here alone. Like I said, when you’re as low in the ranks as I am...”

“What? That’s terrible!! They aren’t even protecting their own? Bee!!”

“Yes, your Highness?” You already knew where this was going.

“Let’s bring Minho along with us tomorrow! We know that there’s safety in numbers--”

“Your Highness, in case you haven’t noticed, our hands are already a bit full...”

“I can fend for myself.” Lee Minho suddenly piped. “Travelling alone, I’ve picked up a few things about protecting myself. You don’t have to protect me, but, I appreciate the offer.”

“Nonsense! You should come with us! I would feel more comfortable if you did rather than went by yourself.”

Lee Minho gave the royal a smile in his thanks, it was pure and a little adorable you had considered...but that was likely the champagne going to your head.

“Really? I appreciate it, your Highness.”

While you were distanced, you nearly could’ve sworn that the prince had squeezed the other’s leg reassuringly, and you were willing to bet he had rubbed it with his thumb too just as he had done to you.

After long, the waitress returned with Lee Minho’s drink, and the two men chatted like old college buddies while you slipped away at your drink in an attempt to make it last as long as you could. While Chan did try to engage you in conversation, it would never last for long until he would become puppy-eyed over the stranger again. In the end, you wondered if the tipsy prince would’ve also confessed to this man if he had one too many drinks.

The table bumped with their jovial and restless legs, and you could only imagine what wandering hands sought to discover.

━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

The hotel was quiet save for the click of heels on the marble floors from ladies who had just gotten off the steamboat and clung to their husbands in their drunken stupor. They cackled in the empty and golden lobby, then pressed hasty kisses into the stuttering mouths of their husbands who’s mouths then smeared with hot pick lipstick. Chan giggled at the sight while he tripped over his own feet too.

“Ahhhh. Being in love is so cute.” He adored them once you had entered the elevator.

“You’re not going to throw up on me, are you?”

The prince hiccupped, then shook his head. “Unlike you I know how to hold my liquor. I’m fine. Just a bit sleepy I think. Must be the jet lag.”

The tones for each floor beeped in the compartment, and Chan lulled his head back and forth.

“So. Lee Minho huh?” You said, not even able to help yourself. The alcohol had brought you a bit of an edge...so you thought.

“Lee. Minho.” He sighed out dreamily. “What do you think of him?”

“I think I can’t trust anyone as long as I haven’t ran at least three background checks on them.”

“Awww, Bee, you’re so thoughtful of me.”

In the empty hallway, the prince with squinting eyes leaned against the doorframe to the royal suite, reaching out to brush up against your blouse once more. You let him, excusing his drunken state. After he did so, his eyes hazed over with something much different, while he looked exhausted, it was laced with something else: something much more longing.

“Bee...fuck, I really want to kiss you again.”

“Hm. That’s ripe coming from you who was just viciously flirting with Lee Minho.”

You could see his head spinning in his dilated pupils. “What?”

The door clicked open and you less than gracefully lead the prince through the dark to your shared bedroom.

“B-Bee, what are you talking about?”

You scoffed, “I’m not blind, you know.”

“A-are you...jealous?”

“W-what? Fuck no. I’m just...you can’t just...toss people around thinking that they’ll all bend to you.”

Chan sat at the edge of the bed and rubbed at his temples when you turned one of the lamps on.

“I-I was doing that?”

You tore a pillow from the bed as well as the throw blanket at the end. “I’m sleeping on the couch. Good evening, your Highness.”

“Wait! Bee!” The young prince stumbled after you, stubbing his toe against the bedpost in the process. “Ah-FUCK!” He grunted.

“What?” You growled back to him, half shrouded in the darkness of the suite living room.

The royal stumbled out, eyes blank and backlit from the bedroom. While you couldn’t see him fully, you later could assume that there was something in him terribly torn and ripped in that moment that made little sense to him, as it did to you to.

Arms reached out, bodies softly illuminated by the lights of the city, and the prince leaned himself fully into you, pressing bitter tasting lips to yours with a heat and desire that only seemed amplified the breather he had gotten. While he tasted of lime and grapefruits, with a twinge of alcohol. He was just as addictive as any vice. You wanted to feel him. As infuriating as he was, and oblivious, your abhorrence to him was just as strong as your attraction.

“Mm, Bee--” He moaned directly into your mouth while shuffling both of you back to the bedroom.

The prince’s trembling breath floated from his mouth to yours where he used both of his large hands to pull your face closer to his. You knew that in some way, there must have been something ingenuine about the whole scenario, but you didn’t care too much, not when kissing him felt like something. Maybe he had kissed you out of pity, or because he really had wanted to kiss you. You broke for seconds before both of your tangled limbs hit the bed.

“Before...you said that you wouldn’t kiss me.”

“I didn’t make any promises...but, how come...you said that you wouldn’t hesitate...? But you kissed ba--”

You silenced the prince’s words with your own heated kisses that made little sense, only that kissing him as such felt good. You straddled the man while his hungry fingers traced all the way down your back. The prince’s hips sunk into the cushiony mattress, and you screwed him down even harder into it with your own heated hips grinding into him with as much pressure as you could muster.

“This is what you want, right?” You pulled at his lip with your teeth to hear him groan from it.

“Is it...what you want?” Chan got out between more kisses.

You could blame it on loneliness or lack of touch all that you wanted, but it wasn’t even close.

“Wait. Wait.” Chan suddenly interjected.

“What? What is it?”

The prince looked up at you, that haze in his eyes now fading to something much different that wasn’t covered in the lust that he held before.

“Bee...I-I don’t know if I want it to happen this way. It feels...it’s not...”

“Not what?”

He brushed his hand upward now to caress your face, lingering on the side of the peach fuzz on your cheek. “You deserve better than whatever the hell this is.”

“Oh, so when I finally want to fuck you, you’re saying it isn’t right?”

“I’m saying, I’m drunk, it’s late, clearly there’s something that’s upsetting you, and I want to know what it is before we do anything else. Tell me, what’s wrong?”

It might’ve been Lee fucking Minho, or it might’ve been something else much stickier for you to admit, but seeing the prince like this, it was too much. He was gorgeous under you, practically angelic looking.

“I-I’m...complicating things.” You whispered out, and the prince softened even further.

“That’s what it is? Bee, I told that you don’t have to worry about--”

“--Yes. Yes I do...your Highness. I-I can’t feel...”

“Bee--let’s just talk about--”

The prince might’ve said more, but his words faded into murmurs once you closed his door behind you, then crawled onto the couch in Jeongin and Seungmin’s room, locking their door too.

~🌹~

Bunch of (Ro)ses!

@minaamhh @dazzlehoseok @synnocence @jjewibeans @hyunsluvv @unexceptional-h @bobawithchaitea @lechanters @sailorhyunjinz @silencefavarchive @eunaeiekim @lunarskzzz

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inosukeslefttoe · 4 years ago

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SO i just finished wonder egg priority and i think that with confidence i can say it has been one of my favorite animes like... ever ?? and not even from hyperfixation or obsession over it just... its so fucking real yet so simple in a way that i havent rlly seen shown in any other shows you feel ??

but first i wanna talk about how sexy the art and animation is real quick... HOMIE ITS SO GOOD LIKE EVERYTHING ABOUT IT JUST... serotonin... the characters are all so unique and iconic and fun but not over the top in their designs yknow ??? they seem like regular every day girls but they stand out and theyre all sO CUTE !!!! also i love how the style is like this soft bubbly slice of life lookin stuff with bright happy colors and the most beautiful scenes you could find but they also have the SICKEST fight scenes complete with whimsical animal helpers and terrifying villains and crazy weapons unique to each character. and the animation. god DAMN shawty i am obsessed with everything in this show. i might make a post solely about the art later lol bc i wanna get into the other stuff.

so the themes in the show right ?? it starts just as this cute lil magical girl kinda deal but within the first episode we see that like.. oh damn... thats kinda heavy... tbh i was a little shocked and thought about stopping bc yknow bad mental health BUT i was so intrigued that i had to keep going and i am SO GLAD that i did. because this show just so beautifully discusses all these heavy topics in such an eloquent and artistically expressive way. and also like, , the juxtaposition of the charming childlike vibe with bright colors and 14 yr old girl protagonists against the dark themes of suicide and so much else,, i think is just perfect. bc a lot of heavy animes are more of the seinen genre and have some middle aged dude as a protag or make the entire color palette dim or offer little relief to the pain of these heavy themes right ?? but NO not wonder egg bitches B) because these problems arent just things that ppl face later in life or just problems that need to be talked about among adults or the edgy seinen watching squad,, these are REAL problems that face people of every age, gender etc and i think its awesome that wonder egg addresses that. some may cringe at the thought of their high schooler watching animes that discuss sexual harassment, suicide, abuse, self harm, eating disorders etc,, but in reality it is the most comforting thing i have ever come across and is basically jsut free anime therapy. because not only does wonder egg present these themes to the viewers as something real that happens to all kinds of people (making said people feel heard in a way that maybe they hadnt before), but it also makes sure to vanquish all of these forms of trauma. and the way the trauma is vanquished isnt always beautiful and it isnt always just magically gone with a poof. the struggles of overcoming or living with that sort of thing are shown in such a real and relatable way that addresses every hardship trauma survivors have to go through. and i just. god i cry bro.

oh m y GOD and the lgbtq+ rep in this show ?? like shawty... as soon as i saw episode one i was picking up on some gay/lesbian themes but then again im sapphic and project that a lot so i tend to see that sort of stuff like... everywhere... but NE WAYS... episode ten made me FUKCING CRY BRO LIke i cant believe there was a whole trans character with a whole trans pride hoodie like LKGHKDGH my heart is just so.. so fucking full thinking about him. bc like yeah i know there are trans characters in anime but i feel like theyre always very ambiguous about actually being trans or not or erased or portrayed as a harmful stereotype or theyre constantly misgendered and still refered to as their assigned gender at birth and i hate it. HOWEVEr... Kaoru.. *chefs kiss* it was so amazing to see a character straight up say “yeah im trans” in such a casual yet powerful way bc i personally have never seen that before. and i love love loved how he went into his backstory and talked to momoe about gender bc i think thats what she rlly needed and that it helped her find herself and it makes me so happy oh my god,, and the way they talked about it never seemed forced or like it was the focal point of his existence yknow ?? like yeah he existed to help momoe overcome some of her trauma but he also just existed to be HIM yknow ?? also... personally, i headcanon momoe as a trans girl even though i dont remember it being explicitly stated plus the school scenes of her and stuff would seem like they suggest otherwise ??but,,, SHAWTY THE AMOUNT OF SUBTEXT and her complicated relationship w gender is... something i feel like a cis girl would not go through so harshly yknow ?? with all of the questioning and feeling detached from femininity or feeling like ppl dont see her as an actual girl and only like her as a guy or for her masculine traits,,, but dont take my word on this bc i myself am a cis girl but that was just my take on it as someone in the lgbtq+ community trying to educate myself on the transgender community :) either way,, wonder eggs portrayal of momoe and kaoru and the way that momoe becomes so passionate about expressing herself the way she wants to as a girl is just... good lord im gonna cry its so perfect,,,.so ... i just love this show way too much. i also am honestly super lost about the relationship btwn acca and ura-acca ?? bc i was gonna mention ura-acca as a canonically gay guy bc when i was watching i interpreted ep 11 as him being in love with acca and being jealous of Azusa (bc i mean,, they lived together (i swear to god there was only one bed in that apartment) and had a daughter together and def loved each other and also when Frill said they were husbands and then when ura-acca said he wasnt attracted to azusa but he was def jealous of their relationship ??) but then i saw somewhere that theyre brothers ?? which would make sense ig since they look kinda similar and accas daughter called ura-acca “uncle”.. but at the same time its ANIME SO THEY ALL LOOK SIMILAR and referring to gay couples as siblings is an EXTREMELY common euphemism soooo... IM JUST LOST HERE... but yeah i tried doing research and found different things so i cant say anything for sure >:( however,,, if they are canonically a lil fruity for each other... when frill refered to acca as ura-accas husband i imploded dude you never hear that sort of wording in anime.. but if theyre related i am so sorry.

god this is so much longer than i planned it to be oops but i also love the theme about like.. relying on friends to help carry your weight but at the same time not becoming completely dependent on those friends and using their support to learn how to love yourself and rely on yourself yknow ?? bc that is exactly what healthy friendships look like. bc i think ai sort of had a codependency thing goin on with koito maybe ?? but now she has a whole squad of funky friends that are so so different but all struggle with different kinds of trauma and although they fight over it, they always get through it with each other together. and they push each other no matter what to be the best versions of themselves and they teach other that getting hurt is okay because theyre always gonna be there to pick up the pieces no matter what happens. they can give each other space when they need and adapt to meet each others needs but theyre always able to balance it out with their own needs and thats such a beautiful thing in friendships especially at their age like damn i wish i had that maturity when i was 14 but no all i had was depression. another thing is that through these friendships you get to see all the different sides of each girl; you get to see them being strong or a shining light to their friends when theyre hurting but you also get to see them being hurt and weak and allowing themselves to be on the receiving end of the comfort. their friendships allows them to have weaknesses but it also allows them to highlight their strengths and thrive off of each others. I LOVE FRIENDSHIP DUDE

next i wanna briefly mention some of the themes connected to suicide that ive noticed. a big one is the survivors guilt that ai feels once koito is dead. several times she screams that she wishes she couldve gone with koito and she dreams of a “perfect world” where they committed a double suicide. one of the main reasons for her troubles is that she blames herself for koitos death and feels like it should be her thats dead... but at the same time she feels like too much of a coward to do anything now that koito is gone. she just has all these complex and contradicting feelings that wear away at her in ways that ppl that havent gone through the suicide of a loved one could never imagine. a lot of the times when things like this are portrayed in media i feel like its more in a way thats meant to guilt trip those that have taken their own lives and paint suicide as this selfish sin thats unforgivable but... not only does wonder egg reject that idea and instead portray it as a heartbreaking tragedy with,,, so so many terrible reasons, but it focuses on the feelings of ai separate from koito without blaming her in any way. not once did i feel like the show antagonized koito or that ai blamed koito for doing any of this, but they simply mourned her loss and touched on ais reaction towards the event but separate from koito herself if that makes sense. and i think that discussing survivors guilt without painting koito as the bad guy is something so beautifully done in wonder egg that can really resonate with those that have lost a loved one to suicide and have struggled with these same things.

okay i think this is the last thing ill mention,,, but HOMIE THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE BIT AT THE END. I AM. OBSESSED. i am such a whore for anything about the multiverse okay n e ways...,, not only did this make a super epic trippy ending of season one and add a little bit more magical girl whimsy to the show,, but it had such a powerful message. from the perspective of og ai,, finding out that you killed yourself in another world is... i mean its definitely not a surprise but at the same time it rlly makes you think how close og ai herself couldve been to that point and what decisions led her out of that dark place in her life. if i were in her shoes i would be terrified and id cry bc the thought of going back to such a dark place and actually going through with something like that is my worst fear and probably something that ai fears too. but at the same time,,, think from the perspective of ai two !!! like yeah its true that theres this awful terrible version of ai that dies but theres also a whole version of ai that is a superhero magical girl fighting off monsters to save countless ppls lives !! and she has a badass lizard and a gang of awesome friends !!! at first i was worried that ai two would be jealous of og ai and compare herself to her and feel inferior but like.. THEYRE LITERALLY THE SAME PERSON AND CAPABLE OF THE SAME THINGS !!! and ai two realized that !! just within the span of one episode, she went from the version of ai who took her life,, to the version of ai jumping in front of a friend to take a bullet for them and save their life. and that just inspired THE SHIT OUT OF ME. i think that ai was sent another version of herself to sort of beat her own worst enemy yknow ?? those doubts and fears that shes no good or that shes that same bystander from episode one and that she hasnt changed at all. but getting to interact with her parallel self and see her grow was just what she needed to realize that while yeah sometimes the worst thing can happen and things can be terrible but on the other hand sometimes the most wonderful thing imaginable can happen because she has the power to do either.

so im gonna go ahead and stop rambling bc i got all my thoughts out that i wanted to for this post :D but yeah lol i might make another if i feel like it sometime. long story short: this show is perfect and it is going on my favorite of all times.

#wonder egg priority #wonder egg spoilers #ai ohto #rika kawai #momoe sawaki #wonder egg priority neiru #i forgot neirus name #anime review #wonder egg ai #lgbtq anime

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flyingcookierambles · 3 years ago

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sadness over a3! eng i guess

oof just on my 700th day.....

kinda sad because of the announcement about A3! ENG server shutting down soon due to financial difficulties at LIBER/CYBIRD in the past two years (covid-19 related, etc.). according to a rather in depth reddit comment that had links to LIBER's publicly available financial reports + some financial reports from LIBER's parent company, Aeria, in english, covid-19 really hit LIBER hard since they had to cancel many money making events, from pop-up shops for the typical anime merch trinkets (keychains, plushes, pins, etc.) to the huge in-person events (voice actor meetups, the stage plays of MANKAI LIVE, etc.). due to shrinking player base on the ENG server + major loss of profits on both JPN and ENG servers, LIBER had to choose one or the other and they chose the JPN one, which i totally understand since it's way bigger there and the JPN fanbase will continue to give the franchise money more often. also, another person found a financial report/estimate from the google play store or something, and A3! ENG only made ~$20K to ~$10K in the past few months, which i guess is not enough to keep a server and localization company afloat.

i got pretty attached to the characters and it was a great game to help get by during college. and honestly, while i am very sad about this, again, i understand why LIBER did this, looking at their financial report from 2020. I would LIBER save the entire franchise rather than shut all the servers down, making us all unable to see our favorite actors ever again, even if it means that we ENG fans will have to go thru the extra steps of finding/reading fan translations, wikis, etc., to read any further stories from where A3! ENG left off. still, A3! ENG's localization was something special. i'm saying this as a TKRB JPN player who read the wiki for all the character voice lines and then had to see the official TKRB ENG localization make Yamabushi Kunihiro a rapper for some reason? lol. it was....weird.... meanwhile, all the memes and slang in A3! ENG didn't seem out of place and all fit their personalities because 3/4 of the troupes were all high school to college age and 3 of them were ~Gamers~. Out of all the gachas i've played, i feel like the only other F2P gacha game that had this incredibly smooth, all cultural jokes/puns translated in a way that still makes sense/fits the character/doesn't require a galaxy brain and some TL note to understand, is probably dragalia lost and that's only because it has frickin Nintendo localizing/publishing it globally for CyGames. Nintendo. i'll eventually read the fan translations of A3!'s Act 3 on the wiki, but it won't be the same without Kazunari's super high-energy influencer slang of "'whoa fam! that's totes 'blammable, gotta take a pic!" or Itaru's gremlin Gamer speak of "lol get rekt noobs" or Tsuzuru's tired dying breath of "that ain't it chief." the appropriate slang and relatable meme speak of the localization really helped humanize these characters as people of their respective ages, rather than just a typical formal speak or some directly translated JPN slang -> ENG that turns out super awkward that can be found in bad localizations.

going back to the reddit comment too, the death of A3! ENG servers could have bad repercussions in the future for other joseimuke games. josei, if you for some reason have been in the anime fandom but still don't know this term, is basically the genre of stories/video games/media/etc aimed at women. it's the mature adult counterpart to seinen, media aimed at adult men. basically shoujo/shonen = elementary/middle school/high school aimed while josei/seinen = high school/college/adult aimed if that helps. Joseimuke is a part of josei that is not specifically romance. while some josei/joseimuke can overlap with otome, aka female aimed dating sims/romance media, they have many things about them that make these all separate genres. one of the official A3! ENG translators and a known fan translator of another joseimuke gacha, Mahou Yaku/Wizard’s Promise, minami, goes more in depth with this in a twitter thread.

A3! was an actor raising game, and a big part of it was found family and relationships that were platonic. yet it got advertised as an otome, which has more connotations with dating sims and brings to mind other shoujo/otome games and anime where the cast is all high schoolers and the setting is most often in a high school. but, other than some characters making flirty jokes or implied to have crushes on Izumi/player character, many character relationships with Izumi are platonic and not romantic at all. Spring Troupe in the game also jokingly calls themself a family. the entire Mankai Company is basically found family. plus, since the game actually has time passing in story and the characters age with each year, half of the characters aren’t even in high school anymore. a large majority of them are in college or are graduated by now, with only a few still in high school. i’m not surprised if a reason that some people left the game was due to feeling bored with the slice of life/not romantic story, feeling that they were lied to about it being an otome, which was falsely advertised since it is a game meant for the older teens/adults demographic of josei/joseimuke.

i’m worried that other japanese companies will look at this shut down as a “josei/joseimuke doesn’t work well in the west” and never localize other josei/joseimuke gacha games like Mahou Yaku, EnStars, Twisted Wonderland, Helios, etc.

while i like otome and shoujo, i, as a 23/soon to be 24 year old college graduate and now tax paying adult, want more stories that have more mature themes and characters that are more my age so i don’t have to feel awkward when i’m playing some dating sim and i, a literal 23 year old adult, and trying to woo a 16 year old. it’s...a little awkward to say the least. i would gladly welcome more mature media that is categorized as josei/joseimuke.

sorry if this is all over the place, but overall im just sad that A3! ENG is shutting down. i don’t know if i’ll join the JPN server yet. i’m def going to read the Act 3 story via fan translators on the wiki, but A3! gameplay was...boring lmao. as much as i love A3!, im sure that the constant event grind/burnout and boring rng gameplay turned people off too and i dont blame them. i felt the burnout bad since i participated in basically every event since day 1. it. is. rough. i’m not joining the hellish thunderdome that is the JPN server and im not ranking anymore as a F2P player lmao. literally had to play almost every waking free moment to get into the 30%-20% bracket as a F2P person and i never got to top 20%-10%, much less top 1% lmao. i’m don’t whale enough lol.

i feel like i should probably just. crack open my genki 2 textbook and uhhh totally legal pdf copy of tobira. so i can just. get the JPN version of games in the first place so i don’t have to worry about getting shafted since overseas fans are often considered expendable.

i wish that, when any games that are online end, gacha or mmo or anything, anything online, companies will let fans archive things. or like. release a book that is just the story text or something. like. CYBIRD is letting us still technically play the game and have the story and all, but what if they eventually later shut everything down? why not just release a pdf/ebook that’s just the text of the eng localization for some money? i’d buy it. for nostalgia and rereads and all and also archiving purposes. i think i’ll try to help with any english localization archive projects if i can so that the hilarious and incredible localization that was a work of love from the translation team doesn’t just disappear forever.

well.

that’s it for now. as i said, guess i’ll head to the app for one of the last times to read the last unread stories and mini stories i have left, then the wiki for Act 3, and then i guess i’ll crack open genki 2 and bunpo.....

some fun random links for you to think about!

random ffxi article that came to mind (if ffxiv ever shuts down in the next 20 years or whatever i’d be cool to get a statue of my character at the end)

and death of a game playlist by NerdSlayer Studios on Youtube that has me thinking a lot about game preservation and losing MMOs and games

the lost media wiki and blameitonjorge’s lost media iceberg

other gacha games i’ve played that have shut down that i think about sometimes because the loss of A3! ENG isn’t my first rodeo:

terra battle & terra battle 2 (1)

AFTERL!FE

(related kitsu post link for archive reasons)

#rambles #games n junk #sad over a3! eng loss #a3!

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to-many-towered-camelot · 4 years ago

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book notes

for anyone who is interested in a nuanced take on fairy beliefs vs the Christian Church in the Middle Ages, this book by Richard Firth Green was actually so good, if your library has it:

[Image: Front cover of the book ‘Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church’ by Richard Firth Green]

like, obvs it’s just one person’s take on a very complex topic, but it’s well-written, well-researched, and it uses a bunch of Arthurian examples throughout to explore this dynamic (see under cut)

really interesting exploration of how the Church’s response evolved from the early-High Middle Ages (”dude, you believe in fairies? hhhmmm, do penance for 10 days”) to the Late Middle Ages/Early Modern Period (”kill them for heresy and witchcraft!”)

and how it enfolded vernacular/fairy beliefs into Christian doctrine as fairies being either a) demons or b) the illusions of demons (and how dangerous/bad these demons were depended on the time/location/cleric in question - some packaged fairies as “neutral” demons who fell when the rebel angels did, and who must be punished on Earth but will return to Heaven on Doomsday - potentially doing this to soften things for their parishioners, who often held these fairy beliefs and reconciled them with Christianity, uh, differently than the Church officially would prefer)

and enduring belief in fairies existed in both common and aristocratic circles (can see this in medieval romances, although they’re not the only source of evidence), rather than just being used as cultural “decoration” by a more sceptical upperclass

aaaaand because of this conflation of fairy = demon, you get a really interesting blend/overlap with medieval demonology and enduring “folk” beliefs (obvs not all of medieval demonology was just rebranded fairies, but some of it defs was - you see stories being retold with “devil” instead of “elf”, for example)

INCLUDING in Arthuriana - how you get Morgan the Fairy (”le Fay”) vs Morgan who was raised in a nunnery and learned dark magic there, the Lady of the Lake as a (largely) positive force, Merlin inexplicably as a (perceived to be...) Good Guy despite being the literal antichrist, the Green Knight and all the overlap with Christian symbolism in that story, etc, etc. and they all just either??? co-exist in the same stories or appear through either more fay or more ~Christian lenses depending on the version

and it creates a very interesting and very confusing soup of Stuff stemming from a very confusing - and sometimes dangerous - soup of official and unofficial beliefs evolving over hundreds of years

anyway, WRT Arthuriana it’s got (and ymmv on these, but they’re all interesting thoughts):

(i think in Gottfried’s Tristan???) apparently Tristan has a rainbow fairy dog called Petitcriu...name a knight less deserving of such a Good Boy smh

Chretien’s Yvain flooding out Laudine at the fountain (...jerk) as a continuation of the beliefs surrounding a magical Spring at Barenton

Gingalain moving from being the son of Gawain and the fairy Blanchemal (and having a fairy love interest, Pucelle) in the French OG version (~1200-ish) to being the son of Gawain and his human mistress (with Pucelle also being human) in a later 15th-C Middle English version)

AJDKN UJ IOE E Merlin’s conception, that one’s a wild ride - theologians REALLY didn’t like the idea of demons being fertile, and the work-arounds they came up with were...incredible. but skipping over that sheer comedy, the author draws links between Merlin’s conception and the general trend of claiming a fairy lover/whatever when a difficult-to-explain pregnancy arose. He also theorises that Geoffrey’s idea for Merlin’s father being a demon/fairy may have come from Nennius saying that Merlin/Ambrosius’ mother “never knew a man”. Later adaptations of this storyline made it even more fay-like (when they weren’t, like Robert de Boron, making it more fucked-up) by making Merlin’s father invisible (Wace) or a super attractive guy in swanky gold clothes (Layamon) - and Vortigern’s advisor explaining the creatures that lived between the earth and the moon until doomsday, etc, etc (walking that line between fairy and incubi, whichhhhhh was not clearly delineated in the Middle Ages the way it is now). also there’s one 13th-C Anglo-Norman poem where Merlin’s father is a bird that transforms into a dashing young squire, which isn’t terribly demon-y. So even though most versions of this story describe Merlin’s dad as an incubi-demon, what people understood this to mean may have been more fay-ish that we’d expect nowadays (depending on the reader, and also on authorial intention - some are pretty explicit that he’s a demon [many clerics keen to push this as the main narrative], while others refer to him as an elf or fairy). some contemporary scepticism during this time about Merlin having any sort of supernatural parentage as well

[none of the same Church anxieties about explaining away how the Plantagenets and other aristocratic families claim a female fairy ancestress - maybe bc there’s none of the stress about patrilineal bloodlines??? who knows! but yeah, much less thought given to those stories in ecclesiastical circles, and they were very popular in vernacular romances (male aristocratic wish fulfilment?). also, fairy enchantments =/= necromancy, so there are stories like the non-cyclic Lancelot where the Lady of the Lake is found out to be “a fairy by education, not by nature or heredity” (Elspeth Kennedy), with the spirits used in necromancy being demons, not fairies. also potential trend of female-associated magic becoming more passive and book-learned, gradually demonising it leading up to early-modern witch hunts.]

Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia and in the Vita Merlini being actually pretty circumspect about saying whether or not Arthur was alive/dead, returning/not returning, maybe due to his work/text being a (hypothesised) defence of the Welsh as being “civilised” (and having been so for centuries before the Normans came) - with the corollary that believing in Arthur’s return was somehow “uncivilised”. Author argues that this may be due to an association with fairy beliefs, and that Layamon is the one that makes Avalon explicitly fey. Also the author describes Arthur as living in a “feminised version of the Christian heaven” (iconic) and says that later writers and people could be very scornful of this belief held by the Britons/Welsh/etc, and that it was contrary to orthodox ways of thinking.

Links the “discovery” of Arthur and Guinevere’s bodies in Glastonbury in the late 12th-C as similar to when individuals found the bodies of their loved ones, thus making it much harder to believe (and hope) that they were still alive in fairyland. Makes a suggestion that the monks in Glastonbury who “found” these bodies may have been trying to curry favour with the English crown (i.e. champion/hope of the Welsh isn’t coming back) but also may have been trying to “help”/”save”/correct the thoughts/ideology of the Welsh (i.e. “set them on the correct path to salvation”). Lots of medieval writers describing Arthur as living in “fairyland”. Precedent of people visiting fairyland and returning, so Avalon/fairyland =/= a place only for the dead (i.e. Arthur isn’t dead). An Arthurian example, albeit a less explicitly fay one, is Lancelot getting in and out of Gorre (with Gorre as a “typically supressed and rationalised” version of fairyland) in Chretien’s Knight of the Cart.

Some stuff about the wild horde (distinct from the wild hunt) being presented by some writers as very penitential (i.e. they are departed souls that may look like they’re bearing arms/hunting/whatever as they did in life, but really they are in agony e.g. because their weapons burn them) and tbh demonic (black armour, carrying torches, ominous aesthetic). Other writers thought maybe it was - once again! - demonic impersonators rather than actual mortal souls. (Should note also that the wild horde/wild hunt motifs were not always associated with their being dead). Relevant in the Arthurian context because Arthur and his court were sometimes associated with the idea of the wild horde (as in, sometimes the wild horde is described as Arthur’s court living it up in a cool, undying sort of way - “in the likeness of knights hunting or jousting, commonly known as the household of Hellequin or of Arthur” [Etienne de Bourbon, a medieval writer] - with Hellequin’s household often being used to encompass either the wild hunt or the wild horde). Ultimate point made by the author (props to him, he’s always like “if i’m right” lol) that for many clerical writers, it was very uncomfortable to leave people with the impression that Arthur and his court were living it up in fairyland (and similar for other figures associated with the wild hunt/horde) and this idea needed to be corrected/shaped to suit more orthodox perspectives - e.g. tying in with notions of purgatory, etc.

Aaaand this one was exciting to me just bc i’ve vaguely heard about Arthur and his knights snoozing under a hill, but for some reason i could only remember this being in Victoria-era-and-onwards poetry. 3 versions of the same tale, where a servant looks for his master’s lost horse on a Sicilian mountain. Version 1) servant of a bishop finds his master’s horse in the beautiful palace of Arthur’s court beneath Mt Etna. Aside from the fact that the ancient wound Arthur received from Mordred opens once a year, it’s not very purgatory-like. Version 2) a dean’s servant is told by an old man that King Arthur has the horse on Mt Gyber (Mt Etna). he is told that his master must attend Arthur’s court in 14 days, but the dean laughs it off...then sickens and dies on the appointed day (whoops). Enough differences to this story compared to the first to suggest an oral circulation. Also a note in the version/text that such mountains are said to be the mouth of hell, and only the wicked are sent there, not the chosen. Version 3) Etienne again! Also likely changed with intervening oral circulation. The master is not an ecclesiastical figure, and Arthur’s palace is now a populous city - also Arthur is not referred to, just a nameless prince. There is a gatekeeper who warns the servant not to eat or drink while he’s there (that...is a very fairy-ish proscription). This mountain is apparently reputed to be the site of purgatory. The book author (Richard, i mean) ties these versions in with other stories/accounts of different entrances to purgatory (e.g. one on an island in an Irish lake) as being part of a gradual process of “rendering [...] fairyland purgatorial”.

Finally, Gawain in Roman van Walewein: To get to an ‘earthly paradise’ [i.e. King Assentijn’s garden with its fountain of youth - side note that ‘earthly paradises’ were often popularly described to be fairyland/where fairies live, in addition to their theological functions, e.g. Avalon was sometimes described as an earthly paradise...i should also say that purgatory was frequently thought to be located beside earthly paradise, so there’s the proximity element] and the castle containing it, Gawain must cross a river (guided by a magical talking fox) that a) has waters that burn like fire, and b) can only be crossed by using a bridge sharper than a razor. His reaction? “Is it the enchantment of elves or magic / that I see?”. He is then guided by the fox underneath the river through a tunnel, and is told that the river’s source is in the depths of hell, and “[the river] is the true purgatory / All souls, having departed from the body / Must come here to bathe.” So it’s a very strong intermingling of fairy and purgatorial imagery/ideas!

I dunno, I just found this very ??? satisfying to read

it leaned towards lit-crit at times (which, considering the subject matter, is honestly fair enough), but it was more respectful of vernacular beliefs than so many other academic takes i see (ofc ymmv re: anything to do with non-Christian major religions, but i think the author’s pretty solid on this!), and it had an explanation for the survival of these beliefs that imo made a lot of sense, especially from a pan-European perspective, not just a Celtic one

plus it explored the undeniable damage done by Christianity over history without making up some “ranged battle between paganism and the Church” that i see e v e r y w h e r e in casual Arthurian circles...which, like, i empathise with the vibe, but also! that’s just straight-up historical revisionism! (i blame MZB and the 80′s for that one)

(there was a fantastic post floating around a while ago about how the religious syncretism in Arthurian literature is much more interesting than peeling away all of the Catholicism in the medieval lit (...you ?? don’t end up with much left?) and saying that this is more “accurate” to some obscure original)

anyway yeah yeah ymmv but it’s v interesting 😊

#arthuriana #Arthurian legend #religion #religious history #christianity #folklore #*#richard firth green #AUDEI FEF HEF this is hilariously long #but really it was such an interesting book!#esp if you're a bit like me and you've been turned away from discussing vernacular/folkloric elements in Arthuriana bc of how badly/weirdly #it's been handled in the past #arthurian literature #medieval history #medieval literature #medieval romance #(also im so sorry to any medieval historian reading this im just throwing around 'The Church' willy-nilly i know it's not a monolith!!!#pinky swear

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cross-d-a · 4 years ago

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fic tag game

aaahhh @vishcount thank you for tagging me!!! These are so fun and I adored reading about your fic journey~! ೖ(⑅σ̑ᴗσ̑)ೖ ❤

OH as a note!! For the ppl I tag at the end I don’t expect you to read all of this bc it’s A Lot!!! but I figured you might want to do this game yourself? haha :)

Name: cross-d-a shortened version of my first ever username. unfortunately stuck with it now haha but i’m fond of it :p wish it was cuter tho!!

Posting the rest of this under the cut so it doesn’t eat up people’s dashes!!

(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧

Fandoms:

oKAY YIKES there are....honestly too many too name. I’ve got a short and obsessive attention span so it’s either all or nothing with me usually. When I can stay in a fandom for a long period of time it’s a miracle. I’ll name the bigger ones that I’ve all written fic for! Even if I’ve never posted them haha

Right now I’m very firmly into Daomu Biji (dmbj). It feels like it’s both got a crap ton of content and yet barely anything at all haha. Maybe because the English fandom is so small. But at least there are a bunch of dramas and books!!! I really, really, really adore dmbj so much!! And a large part of that is the fandom!!! It's been a really cool and unique experience! Everyone in it is truly so kind and wonderful, and I’ve made some really incredible friends because of it (looking at you vish!! ❤). I’ve got a bunch of wips, but I’ve only posted two fics for dmbj!

Before this I was very into Guardian and mdzs. MDZS was my first foray into cdramas and Guardian’s Zhu Yilong really suckered me into watching more haha I also have fics for both these fandoms!

My very first fandoms were Fullmetal Alchemist, D. Gray-Man and Naruto. My very old ffnet account has fics for these and I’ve got a bunch of newer wips on my tablet. Then Star Trek, Twilight, BBC Merlin, Sherlock, Death Note, Harry Potter, How to Train Your Dragon, Battlestar Galactica, Avatar the Last Airbender and Marvel were a few of my main ones in high school. Plus a bunch of anime (like Fruits Basket! and Kuroshitsuji and Natsume Yuujinchou).

Then college hit and I renewed my childhood love of Tolkien (mainly lotr and the Hobbit), and Star Wars. I also found Teen Wolf! Then after college it was Stranger Things.

I find myself in a cycle of mild fondness and complete obsession with these fandoms haha I go back to Star Wars at least once a year!! Then I’m in the gffa hole for a few months. Marvel also reoccurs, depending on how interested I am in new content! Star Trek I always always always go back to. TOS is my comfort show and it will never fade from my heart ❤

But for now I’m stuck in cdrama hell and I love it

Tropes:

Time travel, found family, whump+hurt/comfort, fairytale-like elements, resurrective immortality (thanks to a “Nine Lives” Hobbit fic), CROSSOVERS

I’m a slut for all these things so they often worm their way into my plots haha

I also just- love weird premises. I think that’s the anime influencing me haha

Fic I spent most time on:

My series he leaves sand and stardust in my wake (main fic is hurricane on the edge of oblivion), I have...spent five years on now. I have done so much research for this fic it’s insane.

The premise is force ghost!Obi-Wan getting shunted back into his tiny 10 year old self. I incorporate a shit ton of legends and I try to stay as canon as possible. I basically want this au to feel like it’s 1000% plausible while still getting all my gay shit. It’s chock full of whump, redemption, found family, minor characters turning into major characters, and I’ve got slavery uprising on the mind, too. It’s just- everything I could ever want to explore in the Star Wars universe basically.

It’s my first big project. I started doodling and scribbling ideas in the margins of my notebook in my Scottish History class. I adore it so so so much. But, because of my hyperfixation and fleeting intense obsession with things it makes it- really difficult to consistently update. I leave it for months at a time and I am constantly guilt-ridden about it. Because it’s my baby and I have a lot of wonderful readers. I fear I’ll never be able to finish it. Especially since I’ve written so much and I’m still only in the beginning of it. ( ; A ; )

Also, I’ve spent so much time with Xanatos, Feemor and Bruck that they just feel like mine now. I can’t read any fics that involve them, it’s too strange. Which is a damn shame because I love them so much haha OH ALSO!! I think it’s the first really big fic to include those three?? So I’m very proud about that haha (I’ve had so many ppl comment about how they actually Give A Shit about these three and are Invested bc of me haha)

Favorite fic(s) you’ve written:

hurricane on the edge of oblivion (with nowhere to go) (Star Wars)

My long-term passion project. My love-letter to Star Wars, I suppose. Reading it now I feel like a lot of it is clunky or long-winded, but I think it really shows the foundation of my writing today :) Main characters are Obi-Wan, Xanatos Du Crion, Qui-Gon Jinn, Bruck Chun and Feemor. Eventually we’ll get to Maul, Savage, Feral, Shmi Skywalker, (more!) Ahsoka, Anakin and a shit ton of clones ❤

things we hunger for (Guardian)

My Ye Zun self-indulgent fic. It’s a time travel amnesia Weilanzun! Honestly has some of my fav writing I’ve ever done. It’s so soft and really indulges in the hurt/comfort. It gives Ye Zun the friends and family I think he deserves. Also, he gets to grow into a (mostly!) functional person and I adore him.

the beast that slumbers within your soul (mdzs)

Jiang Cheng centric fic!! I feel like all my favourite fics I’ve written are love letters haha. This is one def my love letter to Jiang Cheng. This fic possessed me for two whole days. I wrote 16k in almost one sitting. I went to sleep at 6 in the morning bc I couldn’t stop writing. And when I drifted off I kept thinking of new ideas so I’d whip out my phone and write down lines and notes. I- have never ever ever felt that way about anything. It was- insane. It felt insane. It was so amazing. I’m still riding the memory of that high.

Basically Jiang Cheng actually finds Baoshan Sanren and it turns out she’s a fox demon and Jiang Cheng is descended from wolves. It’s- okay I said the fic above this had my favourite writing?? That was a lie. This has my favourite writing I’ve ever done. It’s unfinished bc I am in dmbj hell but I am still excited about the next chapter which features Wei Wuxian’s pov!!

the whispers of spirits (dmbj)

My current passion project. In a way it kinda feels similar to hurricane? Bc multiple povs, incorporating different aspects of canon (we’ll get there!! I promise!), shit ton of research, etc. etc. I really really really love it for so many reasons. I’m basically taking all the things I was unsatisfied with in Reboot and Sha Hai and running with it. Found family and whump galore! It’s also a love letter to the women of dmbj who really deserve so so so much better.

Honourable mention to:

One Day (you’ll have given more of yourself than is meant to be taken) (Marvel)

This fic also kinda possessed me. I just- couldn’t get rid of the idea of a trans!Thor. And I mean a mtf Thor! It’s just? So many people look at Thor and go “that’s a Real Man.” Full stop. They never think there could be anything more, and it really really really bothered me. So I wrote out my feelings. I’m not trans. I don’t have that experience at all. I’ve had issues and confusion about my gender but nothing like this. I just wanted to do justice to this idea of Thor in my head. And I still feel a bit nervous having posted it. But I've gotten so many comments from people who really connected with what I’ve written? So I’m very very thankful I wrote it and it has a very special place in my heart. It’s a very cathartic fic.

Fic I spent least time on:

Probably we rise (Star Wars) and I think it shows haha. I wrote it in response to Dave Filoni posting a drawing of Ahsoka and Gandalf telling her “People thought I was dead, too, and look how that turned out...” So I incorporated Ahsoka (and Din and Grogu and Ezra!!!) into the ending of Rise of Skywalker, kinda explaining how I think they could all still be alive. :)

Longest fic:

hurricane is my longest fic (159k) but I’m kinda worried whispers will eclipse that.....

Shortest fic:

Of my posted ones it’s The Five Moments it Took Tony and Scott to Admit They Were Best Friends (and the first time they ever did), currently clocks at 1.6k. It’s unfinished tho so maybe that doesn’t count.... otherwise it’s we rise which is completed and 2k.

Most hits/kudos/comments/bookmarks:

hurricane overall has the most of all these. Though I don’t think hits counts as much bc it’s multi-chapter. If you discount multi-chapter stuff, most hits goes to my obikin smutfic Homecoming, bc people are horny af haha

Fic you want to rewrite/expand on:

If I had energy I’d like to rewrite the beginning of hurricane bc it feels so so wordy. I’d want to expand on One Day bc I really would like to write a whole series with trans!Thor. And like- I’d really like the focus to finish any of my WIPs.

Share a bit of a WIP: I really wanna share my Guardian/dmbj crossover that I started back in August. Bc I adore the idea of wu xie&shen wei&ye zun triplets! Plus time travel!!! I dunno if I’ll ever finish it tho ( ; A ; ) It just feels like a lot to deal with right now.

This scene takes place during the Mountain Awl arc. Guardian crew and desperado fam run across each other at the village! Wu Xie has recently found out that he’s adopted and he’s searching for answers in the area Sanshu originally found amnesiac!toddler!Wu Xie in :) Gonna pull two snippets bc I’m v excited and this might be the only time anyone else sees this fic haha:

“Oh?” Pangzi focuses on Yunlan now, lips twisting. “You think I’ve ‘got the wrong guy,’ huh?” He laughs, but it’s not a nice sound. “That’s rich! Are you that cocky or are you just stupid?”

Bristling, Yunlan drops his hands and scowls. “Excuse me?”

“Sir,” Shen Wei tries. “I think—”

Pangzi’s eyes snap back to Shen Wei, sharp and blazing. “How dare you fucking steal his face!”

What?

Automatically, Zhao Yunlan turns to Shen Wei, but the professor looks just as shell-shocked as Zhao Yunlan feels which- is seriously something. Since everything about Shen Wei is so carefully controlled, kept to the minimum. Except for those delightful little smiles that bloom across his lovely face, or the startled little bursts of laughter that fall from his lips. Or even when anger and frustration spark across his features, cracking his calm veneer open enough that he can see a glimmer of what lies beneath, the fire in those eyes. Zhao Yunlan delights in those moments, makes a game of making Shen Wei’s control slip.

He tells himself it’s nothing more than a game. Nothing more than trying to find out what makes Shen Wei tick.

Zhao Yunlan’s always been very bad at lying to himself. Or very good. Depending on who you’re asking.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Yunlan splutters.

But before anyone can say anything else, a very familiar voice calls:

“Pangzi? What’s wrong?”

Yunlan can feel Shen Wei stiffen, and Yunlan himself is pulled to that voice like a planet in orbit, like the inevitable plummet to the ground.

Another shadow wavers in the doorway before it steps out onto the dirt. Light illuminates shaggy hair, limning it gold, sharply casting everything else in shadow. But as the figure nears, the contrast softens until Yunlan can see the newcomer’s face properly and- and—

“Wu Xie!” Pangzi growls. “We’ve got ourselves an impostor!”

The man wearing Shen Wei’s face steps up to them, brows furrowed and mouth pulled down into a sharp frown. He glances between them, eyes landing on Shen Wei. His scowl deepens. He opens his mouth, but then—

“Wu Xie?” Shen Wei breathes, all trembly and lost and hopeless.

Heart in his throat, Yunlan turns to Shen Wei again. Turns and flinches at that stricken look upon Shen Wei’s pale pinched face.

“A-Xie?” Shen Wei chokes. “Didi?”

and

Pangzi snorts. “Professor?”

“I-it’s true!”

Startled Yunlan swings his attention over to Jiajia who clenches her backpack to her chest, face screwed up in admirable determination. “P-professor Shen took me and Xiao Quan on a field trip to investigate an archeological site around here!”

“Oh?” Wu Xie drawls all slow and amused. “Well, what a coincidence. We’re archeologists, too.”

“With guns?” Yunlan bites out.

Wu Xie raises a brow, grin full of teeth. “Well, you can never be too prepared.”

“Right,” Yunlan drawls right back. “Are you a professor, too, then? You come here with your students?”

Wu Xie outright grins. “You could say that, I suppose.”

Out of the corner of his eye, one of the men rolls his eyes. He’s the one with sharp features, glasses and looped earbuds. Does he think it’s appropriate to listen to music at a time like this? Yunlan admires the man’s gall.

aahhhh vish thanks so much again for tagging me!! This was so fun to relive my fic memories!! I’m gonna tag @alwaysaslutforshakespeare @jockvillagersonly @tehfanglyfish @lichelleme @undyingsunshine @humanlighthouse @thewindsofsong I’m curious about your guys’ writing and fandom journey!! As always, no pressure to actually complete this!! I just thought it was fun ❤

Wow if you read all of this I am very humbled and impressed, thank you!!

╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

#cross talks #my fic #fanfiction #uhhh what else do i tag this as i dunno #about me #cross posts #wip fic

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kanene-yaaay · 5 years ago

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Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Kanene’s note: Okay, I’m- aaaaa

I’m very proud of this one because it’s a little different of what I use to write and it was cool to try a new something. I didn’t even wrote the laughter because I was writing this next to my family and I didn’t wanted any of them asking why my characters were laughing so much xDD.

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* Switch!Émile and Switch!Remy (It is def romantic. They are married and very gay and there is a lot of kisses in it-)

* Hmmm… This is a Tickle-Fanfic! If you don’t like this kind of stuff, please look for another blog, there are plenty of amazing art in this site!! ‘u’).

* Something around 2700 words. -w-)b.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! I didn’t proofread that one very well, so I will probably be correcting a few things later. Any advice is always very, very welcome!

* Just two silly and very mean boyos being two silly, teasy and ticklish boyos. xDD

* A versão em português brasileiro irá ser escrita, ainda! Thankys for reading, my lollipops! Watch a fun video, take a good rest, talk with the one that you love and drink water! Byeioo!~

[~*~]

- Émile ~

He didn’t know from where this came from. In a second they were on the couch, smiling and watching Steven Universe, and in the other a cold shiver ran across his body, making him turn to his husband, just in the exact moment to see he taking off his sunglasses, locking his glare on him with those sweet, dangerously warm eyes and grin. Just like that. It took a heartbeat before Émile realized what was about to happen, a wobbly smile beginning to control his features as he felt himself almost paralyzed, Remy starting to tap his fingers on the lenses of his own glasses, his malefic smirk never fading.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

They stared each other, Émile’s gaze finally changing to his fingers, another round of goose bumps spreading across his spine, the adrenaline taking over his veins and giving him the enough strength to dash in full speed through the hall.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Which leaded the poor, almost giggling, adult to his current state: hiding behind his room’s door and wishing with all his will power that this plan would really worked as well as it had when he watched in the cartoons.

(He tried to ignore the voice in his mind reminding him how all that chases usually ended up in the end, the thought only being enough to heat his face.)

- Émile ~ - It was in days like this that one wearing glasses could swear that Remy was a witch. Because there wasn’t any other realistic, rational and plausible explanation about how much the giggles trapped in his throat got louder, bouncier and even more difficult to control just with the slight sound of his voice, obligating their owner to press his hand further around his mouth, lightly biting the tip of his tongue. – You had better hide well, because you know what is gonna to happen when I find you, don’t you?

Émile shook his head, his back forcing itself on the cold wall.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

- Oh, gurl, maybe you don’t even remember anymore… Now, we can’t fusion like this, can we? Let’s me remind you, then. ~ - The chased hold a pouty whine when heard these words, already feeling the beginning of a blush spread in his neck. Remy knew very well how teases could be as unbearable and unnerving as the tic… I mean, The Thing. – First, I will carry you aaaaall the way back to the couch and maybe my fingers will slip in tweaks and squeezes all over your hips, who really knows, ya know? But you better don’t squirm that much, because then I will have no escape but be obligated to bring my other hand to better hold you and just hope that this one is not more slippy then the first, right?

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

- And then: The couch. Nothing different will happen there, really. I will just lay down with my extremely ticklish, helpless husband to take a nap, and, if my glorious lips will be random blessing your incredibly sensitive neck with a lot of Goodnight Kisses and my hands will keep lightly scratching, squeezing and poking all the length of your sides, sometimes even giving a little attention to your hips, because no way in hell I will be sleeping in a hard pillow, it’s none of your business, giggly boi. – Émile couldn’t help nor stop the pitched squeal that escaped from his mouth, eyes widening and breathing immediately stopping, the others giggles also begging to escape. - Oh, and, by the way, better keep your mouth very shushed while this. We don’t want the Tickler Master waking up, am I right?

Silence.

Remy’s nonchalant tune still full filling the air, which didn’t carried the sound of his steps anymore. The cartoon lover knew there was no way for him to save himself and, in a surrender act, just let his high, excited giggles run happily across the room hiding his face in flames behind his tremble hands. Seconds later, he heard the sound of his door being closed and his hide spot exposed.

- But we both know that you just can’t contain yourself, my so poor, so defenseless lee. – Émile playfully screamed as he was lifted up in the air, quickly being carried in bridal style. He opened his eyes enough to see Remy in a bat of eyes deviating his glare from his form, the tender smile taking pieces of seconds before changing to an evil grin, fingers suddenly tweaking his kneecaps and hips, leading the carried to jump, a squeal signaling the flow of giggles that followed it.

- Please, Remy, please!! – Each new squeeze was a snort interrupting his words, making him try to start again only to get the same result and repeat the cycle all over, resulting in a more helpless babbling than anything else. The said stopped, adjusting his hold in order to sneak his thumb in that damn spot right between his shoulder blades, switching between kneading and prodding while leading to an even more no-understandable sentence. - No there, no there, no there!!! Pleasepleaseplease-

- Huh? Whatcha you are trying to say, hun? That I’m the most handsome husband in the entire world? That you are so sensitive that only a few squeezing and prodding are enough to transform you in a blushy, laughing mess? – The one being held felt his laughter increasing, the words spreading tingles in all his others ticklish spots, even the ones which weren’t being attacked. He shakes head, denying. – Is that you love all these teases and specially when I tickle tickle tickle you? Huh? Use your words, babe.

– Nonononono! – Émile arched his back just to find another attack to his hips, bucking the said as Remy buzzed his fingers in the exact point where his sides and hips connected, and generating loud crackling as response. – You a- nah! You are mean mean mean!! – His arms danced to a place to another, too much occupied with the crazy sensation to really focus in stopping it, Remy increasing his efforts in order to make the snorts start to bloom amongst his laughter and squeals, no needing too much to succeed. – Remy!!!

- Yes, gurl? Geez, you should love my name. It seems like you can’t even spent a whole real minute without saying it! – His tune was still nonchalant. However, he leaned down for a heartbeat in order to steal a peck from his beauty, giggly and cute as fuck, husband, who obtained a new shade of red creeping down his neck. Nooooice. – Anyway, what did you wanna tell me? Be quick, I still having a lot of places to knead, scratch, scribble, wriggle… This whole ‘Tickle your extremely ticklish husband, like, really, reeeeeally ticklish, like seriously, this guy is a whole tickle spot himself, a alive version of Tickle Me Elmo, and, when he became a helpless mess just tease him more and more until the big, rational, Émile Picani turns in just a poor, so poor, blushy lee.

- REMY!!

- What? Can’t handle the truth? Boo-hoo, then.

Émile didn’t answered, unless you considered his fast, absolutely incoherent, stumbling words a kind of response, choosing to clench is hands in his shirt and hide his face in flames, instead. His laughing being so strong that reverberate through the attacker’s chest, who couldn’t stop feel like a villain as he stared with a gigantic grin adorning his lips the ribs that such act let defenseless. Well, he internally shrugged as he took a deep breathe, suit himself. His arms were growing tired anyway.

Émile thought he was going to melt in any moment, the teases still heating his sensitive skin and increasing the tickles in a way that should be definitely illegal, but in the moment he felt the raspberry, spreading, taking over his nerves and T I C K L I N G he died.

And screamed, for sure. Oh, and also gripped something while kicked and trashed as if Mabble’s life was depending on it (not his own life, of course, since he was already dead). Some part of his desperate brain noticed he was falling, but the laughter exploding from his mouth and the impossible to ignore feeling quickly expelled any other thing.

He opened his eyes, breathless as his watery vision focused in the form mostly layed onto him, their giggles flying and filling the entire room. After some heartbeats, Remy finally got up, his hands resting on the floor and sustained the weight of his body. Their eyes met.

- I’ve forgot how much of a kicker you are. – Émile just curled up a little more, pulling his tongue out in a very mature and hard to win, statement

- ‘s not my fault your arms are weaken than Deadly Arms’ ones.

- Excuse you?

- Nuh.

- I beg your heck pardon?

- No, you let me fall for you. Twice. In love and on the floor. I’m ignoring you until the end of ours married days.

- Oh, is that so? – Remy replied, adjusting his position so his hands would lay each one in the sides of his husband’s head, who immediately recognized the smile beginning to shine and exploded one more time in a flow of giggles, his arms in front of his body, attempting to conjure a kind of shield.

- Wait wait waitwaitwait!! Nonono! – A yelp cut his sentence when a hand tweaked his thigh. - I’m sorry, I’m sorry!

- Yep, gurl, you will b- And his threat was interrupted when Émile pushed his shirt and connected their lips, stealing his words, breath and any and every coherent thought from his head, his giggles still floating from his mouth, which leaded, if that was even possible, to the coffee lover melt further, allowing himself to be carried away by the tenderness and love, sighing and deepening the kiss.

…Until that dirty, evil, nasty cheater digs his fucker fingers in his damn stomach, which ruined the romantic moment and absolutely did NOT made Remy Tough Picani release a half shriek half snort that DIDN’T resulted in the only one wearing glasses coos softly, excuse you.

- Awww. – Émile gave him an innocent smile, quick turning the tables and sitting on Remy’s legs, his fingers swinging in a dance that consisted in craving his thumbs right above his waistline and vibrating his others fingers in his torso, the maddening sensations culminating to free, belly laughter escape from the ‘victim’s’ mouth. Eyes tightly closed, wrinkled nose. – What is the matter, my dear? The cool, bad boy Remy can’t take some ti-tickly tickle tickling in his tummy-yummy-yummy? Huh? Huh? Can’t he? Because he is super hype dyper sensitive, aren’t you? Yes, you are! You are!

- OH MY GOD, SHUT UP!! – Remy could feel his face, against his own will power and threats, melt in flames. His laughter being replaced by hysterical giggling as his husband changed his technique to spidering, slowly walking his fingers up before quickly drag his nails in random patterns the way down, going up and down one time more and after that a couple more of times, always managing to catch four or five snorts. – THIS IS SO DUMB, FUCK.

- Now, now, Mister Ticklish Master. Let’s not be a Squidward to the Tickle Monster, alright? He just wanna to hear aaaaaaall that adorably, lovely, helpless giggles of yours!! – Émile lowered down and touched their noses, his smile increasing as he felt the other’s laugh hitting his cheeks, his tune now in flying in joyful whispers. – And what a cute laughter you have! Definitely the most lovely, sweet and favorite lee of the Tickle Monster!

- ‘m not- ‘m not cuteyourbi-nOPLEASENOTTHERE- His words stumbled in each other, specially when his shirt was lifted and a finger began to squirm and scratches his bellybutton, his legs now kicking while his hands tried to get enough strength to stop the marvelous move. However, exemplary falling as the attacker focused some quick prodding in the exposed axillaries, receiving what was suppose to be an angry snort. Émile couldn’t help but coo one more time. – I’M. NOT. – He couldn’t help the squealing cutting his sentence. - CUTE. FUCK OFF!

Émile made a soft sound of sadness, pouting even if his husband was still with his eyes tightly closed, unable to see it.

- Now, it’s a pity that you don’t believe in the words of your own husband. – He switched to lightly scribbles and pokes at his sides and lower ribs, making sure to rub circles in each one of them while also gave his ‘victim’ some room to breathe and understand his words.

- Well… maybe, maybe he would… – Remy tried, really tried to frown and looks angry, but that was really hard with the giggles still interrupting his words. His body melting in the gentle, good touch. Totally against his will, for sure. - ... if his husband wasn’t being a jerk and tickling him.

He stared directly at Émile, therefore he didn’t lose the slightest which red freckled his cheeks, smirking, wobbly that is true, but also proudly in being the only between both who managed to say ‘tickle’ without shuttering. Sadly, though, he also didn’t lose the way his eyes and smile widened, showing that the other had an idea.

Butterflies started to panic in his stomach, especially when Émile’s gaze focused there with a ratter crazy gleam, his next phrase coming out as a soft, dangerous purring.

- You know… all of this made the Tickle Monster a bit hungry… and he heard that some lil lil lee has a very yummy yummy tummy right here. – His hands squeezed his belly, as if to prove his point. Remy jumped, the adrenaline running all speed across his body as the words starting to weight in his brain.

- Wait, WAIT! Émile!!! – The one being called slowly moved towards his target, ignoring the squirm and pleas from his husband, who grew more and more desperate as his attacker innocently smiled and looked at him, his head gradually lowering to his most ticklish spot. – Émile, Émile, please, I’m actually begging you. I’m begging you!! I’m cute, see? I said it!!! Émile!!!!

- I’m listening. ~

- No, you’re not! – His euphoric, hysteric giggles already began to take over his sentences. – No! Fuck!!

- No? – Émile’s lips already were resting on his belly, the word sending shivers across his nerves, which was not helped by the fact that the other absently shook his head, demonstrating his saying.

- No! No!

- A no to ‘no’? So that is a yes?

- nO.

- No? But what about the ‘yes’?

- Stop it! Oh my gosh, I’m gonna to get a bitching divorce!! It’s a no to your yes!

- Got it! It’s a ‘no’, then?

- Yes!

- A yes? Okay!

Before any other protest could fly from his mouth, a shriek did it first. And again. And again. And one more time, almost as fast as the nuzzled raspberries buzzing and the nibbles, together with the ‘nhom nhom nhom’s’ sounds, spread and madly tickled in a total oblivion to his kicks, pushes and loud, thunderous laughter painting the air.

It didn’t took too much before the cartoon lover stopped, already aware of the other’s limits, and touched their foreheads again, Remy’s breathing and reminiscent giggles being the only thing breaking the silence which involved them in a calm, cozy, warm feeling.

- You don’t look at me like that, your traitor. – His tune was free of any harm, his bright gaze and blushed cheeks locking his attention. Émile couldn’t help himself but kiss the pout out of his face. – And don’t you dare to kiss me. – Quick kiss. - I don’t trust in your sweet lips anymore. – Soft kiss. – They are a hell of a trap. – Giggly kiss.

- I love you.

Their eyes met, one more time, and Remy finally gave up, swimming in that deep, caring moment. Their hands intertwined themselves.

- I love you, too. – He lightly poked Émile’s ribs, winning a yelp before receiving the same treatment. – But only sometimes.

- Uh huh.

- What? It’s the truth!

- Sure it is, dear.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Their heart did, beating in unison.

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suhfleur · 5 years ago

Text

dear, my dear • jaebeom (2/4)

• pairing: soulmate!jaebeom x reader

• genre: romance, angst, smut

• warnings: cursing, sexual content

• word count: 2.2k

summary: in a world where a touch can lock the doors of the heart, his voice opened the doors to your soul as he filled it with joy.

a/n: i like doing cliches. enjoy. forgive any typos, i didn’t review this.

•••

“That’s amazing!”, would sound fake.

“Wow, how it happened?”, wasn't something you wanted to know. And, “I'm happy for you” would be the last thing you felt like saying.

But you should still be a good friend.

He never even broached the subject of soulmates with you, so knowing how he felt at the moment was a cloudy situation.

You weren’t sure how to act.

Sunny decided to sleep with you, just in case, because she was too good of a friend to let your shocked ass alone. And you were grateful, because being alone all night wouldn’t do anything for you, except make you cry.

But right now, you are lying on the floor of the rooftop of your building, staring at the stars as if maybe they could tell you what to do. Pretending that nothing happened wouldn’t help much.

[10:16 pm] loftv: And how are you feeling about this?

You thought maybe he might be busy in the studio and wouldn't answer fast, but the answer soon came.

[10:21 pm] def: fine. I feel the same as always.

[10:22 pm] loftv: Is that all? Didn't you feel anything extraordinary?

[10:22 pm] def: it doesn't matter to me.

[10:23 pm] loftv: And why not?

def is typing… appeared on your screen for at least 7 minutes, and yet, no message came for almost others 5 minutes.

[10:35 pm] def: you took too long to answer. what happened?

Okay. He definitely doesn’t want to talk about it. Time to move on.

[10:36 pm] def: I missed you.

You sighed heavily, feeling your stomach twist and turn. No matter if you had found your soulmate, def was still the one you loved. And nothing would change that, not even a predestined love.

[10:37 pm] loftv: I’m sorry. Got carried away with some things. Missed you too.

[10:38 pm] loftv: A lot.

[10:38 pm] loftv: Tell me how you feeling. What you doing right now?

Putting your phone down, you heard Sunny clear her throat, looking at you suggestively.

“What?” You asked nonchalantly.

“You found your soulmate." She said as she propped her elbows on the floor and rested her chin on her left hand. “And I’m not even questioning it, I know you found him… or it is her?” She asked smiling.

“I don’t know,” You answered, thinking about the whole situation at the subway and how it messed the hell out of you. Sunny looked at you deadass like that meant ‘what do you mean, girl?’. “It happened at the subway station. People kept pushing me until somebody touched me and everything happened. I lost him… or her. I don’t have any idea. I just felt like crying… but not because I was scared. But… I felt happiness. It was so weird…”

“Do you still think the soulmate thing is something theatrical?” Sunny asked you while running her fingers through your hair. She seemed cynical.

“No. Not even a bit,” you turned on the floor until you were face to face with her. “and that’s why I’m mad. And scared. And everything.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to have that person. Even if my body it’s telling me otherwise, this is not what I want.”

“This is not who you want, right?” Sunny’s voice sounded kinder and her eyes tried to calm you down. Somehow.

“I love somebody else, Sunny.” Your eyes filled with water, so you returned back to the starting position, with your back against the floor as you looked up, expecting something to come from the sky and change all that, again.

“You know… When I met Jaehyun, everything seemed so natural that it was weird. Like, I had never seen him before and it didn’t feel strange at all. I hoped that even though he was the person I was going to spend the rest of my days with, we would have some kind of... uncomfortable moment, I guess? After all, we didn't know each other. But when I bumped into him at the Museum and we started talking, that thing... started to make sense.” She said excitedly while sitting and crossing her legs.

“What thing?” You asked, curious, looking at her again.

“Do you remember that I would always tell you that every time I picked up that specific book from the library, I felt something different? I never knew how to explain that, but I would always feel that warm feeling, like my soul was being hugged, and you called me high, which was rude of you, by the way, little bitch. But, moving on, when Jaehyun and I started meeting each other, he told me he used to go to that library and always take that same book to read!”

“Okay now, this is a hell of a coincidence.” You answering, not knowing exactly where Sunny was trying to go with that information.

“The thing is: it wasn’t a coincidence, Y/N. Whenever I walked in front of that law firm, I felt the same way I felt when I touched that book. That was because Jaehyun worked there. That Japanese food restaurant that you and I like to go whenever is possible, I used to feel the same way too, because Jaehyun used to go there a few times when you and I were, he would sit with his friends a few tables away from us, every Friday.”

You still didn’t get it.

“What you trying to say to me, Sunny?”

“This whole soulmate thing is not like life is throwing somebody at your door and saying ‘here it is’. It is not predestined as a computer programming, it is built until it is unified. It’s storytelling, your storytelling, but it has to be built. Life introduces you to your soulmate, in some weird ways, yes, but it does. That’s why it’s called soulmate.” Her eyes expressed more than what you could catch. “Just don’t overthink right now. At some point, you will know what I mean.”

And you really wish you could understand that at the moment, fully. But maybe it was not for you right now.

“Hungry?” You nodded. “Good, I will order pizza now. Half spicy!” Sunny got up quickly, laughing. “And you are going to eat with me!”

“You know I don’t eat spicy things!” You shouted as she ran into your apartment, moving backward just a few steps to look at you.

“Life is too short to not eat spicy things, especially when you never ate it before. And, if I were you I'd look at my phone because you're probably leaving a certain someone talking to himself.” She said laughing as she disappeared into your living room.

Oh shit, def…

Quickly picking up your phone from the floor, you see that he had only sent you two messages, 10 minutes ago.

[10:41 pm] def: can I call you? I really missed you.

[10:45 pm] def: please?

You felt your hands shake a little at the question. The two of you had never been messaging, his idea of not knowing much about you never included not talking on the phone, but he never even asked about it.

And now, receiving his call was an overwhelming idea.

[10:55 pm] loftv: I’m sorry, I was talking to my friend.

[10:55 pm] loftv: But yes, call me.

And as soon as you sent the message you started preparing, trying not to create what you didn't want: expectations. You had no more than 1 minute to think about anything because soon your phone was vibrating and his name was shining brightly on your screen.

You answered quickly.

“Hey.”

His low and husky voice vibrated in your ears, in almost a whisper, as if he was testing territory. And you felt like throwing up, your stomach kept spinning, feeling goosebumps on the back of your neck. He could always make you fall apart just like that.

“Hey, you… You never answered me what you were doing.” You said shyly, biting your lower lip, hoping that you didn’t sound stupid.

“That’s why I’m calling you, miss. To show you what I’m doing…” His voice sounded a little more excited.

“Well… You are not going to really show me anything, you know how calls work right? I just can hear you.” You mocked.

“Oh, you are the smartest person in the world, uh?” He answered wryly. “You understand what I’m saying, you wanna know what I’m doing or not?”

“Ok, big baby. I’m all ears.” You heard a small laugh from him, making you smile more. He was walking somewhere because you could hear him opening and closing a door. “Where are you?”

“Studio.” His voice was distant as if the cell phone had been placed somewhere far away.

“I’m waiting…” You hummed.

“Wait a minute, Einstein. I’m almost there.” Then you heard the keyboard noise and a few clicks. “There we go, I hope you like it…”

A gentle guitar melody began to play and you lay back on the floor again, enjoying his voice blending perfectly with the sound of the strings and the sudden beat coming in.

“You’re always in my thoughts,

Where you are right now,

If only I could know

Even if it takes a few years

I want to find you…

Come back to me.”

The calm words being chanted as supplications filled your mind, while the starry sky presented you with this perfect combination.

You didn't even notice when it was over. Only when you heard his voice again.

“You liked it?” He sounded hesitant.

“You still ask me that? It's beautiful. Perfect. Tell me this is the final version, please, I'll kill you if you make any changes." You heard his laugh and some noises again, as if he were leaving that place again, locking a door.

"I would only change something if you told me this song was horrible, after all, you are my quality manager, right?"

The noise of movement and cars grew louder.

"Are you leaving the studio?"

“Yes. I’m going home now because I think somebody once told me that if I was past 11 pm in the studio, she would strangle me or something like that…”

“That must be a nice person, then.” You answered, laughing at him. At least your threats were working.

“Yeah. She is very nice… But tell me now, what are you doing, my Lily?”

So, you guys talked about absolutely everything, from how sushi is not all that good to the meaning of constellations in each mythology, which honestly left you wanting to jump on him because that man could talk about everything, and there wasn’t, at the moment, something sexier than the way he explained things. The conversation was so long and relaxed that you walked through the whole house while talking to him, and now you were on the living room floor, next to a Sunny who just passed out watching Princess Mononoke from Studio Ghibli. After eating a disguting spicy pizza that almost made you throw up while talking to def, and he mocked you for 15 minutes.

Just as your friendship started naturally, the same thing happened with this first phone conversation and you thought "why the hell am I so afraid?", you had never felt so stupid. It was time to be brave. After all, you had nothing to lose. He was not predestined for you.

"Def?" You called, hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"I think... I mean... Why is it so hard to form a phrase? God... Ok. I think we should see each other, if it's ok with you."

You waited anxiously for the answer, and received a laugh.

"If it's ok for me? C’mon now, I'm waiting to see you for months. Of course it's ok for me. When do you want to see me?"

Right now, please.

"Is it okay if I want to see you tomorrow? After work...”

“Are you sure? I mean, you know I work at home, so no problem but it won't be tiring for you?” The concern in his voice warmed your heart a bit. Always so understanding.

“Yes, I’m sure. Don’t worry. I just really want to see you.” You admitted holding your breathe.

“I really want to see you, Lily. I really do.”

“Good, I can’t wait to hear why you call me Lily and it better be a good reason or I swear to God, we gonna fight!” His laughter once again filled your ears and heart. “Even though I don't want to go now, it's already 2 am and in 5 hours I have to go to the university and then work. Unfortunately, capitalism forces me to go. See you tomorrow?” You asked with dreamy voice, and big smile.

“Of course you will... Before you go, let me tell you one important thing.”

“What is it?” You asked curiously, looking lazily at the screen.

“My name is Jaebeom. Lim Jaebeom. Sleep well, my Lily.”

#jaebeom #jaeobeom imagines #jaebeom scenarios #lim jaebeom #got7 imagines #got7 scenarios #jaebeom smut #dearmydearseries

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losers-yurio · 4 years ago

Note

🔫ALL OF THE MUSIC ASKS

IM- FINE

FAVORITES 1. what are your favorite bands? KISS, Frehley’s Comet, The Runaways, The Monkees,Def Leppard, Scorched Waves,And Motley Crue

2. what are your favorite singers? hmm Micky Dolenz,Ace Frehley,Ted Howarth,

3. what are your favorite albums? the first Frehley’s Comet Album,Trouble walkin’,the ace 78 solo,revenge,dressed to kill,kiss self titled,hotter than hell,evermore,folklore,and pyromania

4. what are your favorite songs?

5. what do you think the best popular song of the year is so far? cardigan

6. which genres of music do you tend to like the best? Old Man Rock, Pop Occasionally

7. what is the best concert you’ve ever been to? Tiger Army

8. song of the year? long story short

9. album of the year? as much as i loved folklore, evermore

10. what are the best songs your parents have gotten you into? war pigs and i'm comin home

11. how did you first find out about your favorite band/singer? i was a dumbass and didn't realize just how many kiss albums ace actually played on and renae mentioned that he had solo shit. bonus the first time i heard the 78 solo i almost cried

12. when/where do you first remember having heard your favorite song? Armageddon it, i was watching all of the def leppard music videos

13. about how many times have you listened to your favorite song? my guy i have no idea:”)

14. if someone asks you what music they should check out, what are your go-to recommendations? THE ENTIERTY OF TROUBLE WALKIN

NOSTALGIA 15. what songs give you the most nostalgia? the first three taylor ones, i grew up on her!

16. what kinds of music were you raised on? punk, metal, contry,and the pop that was popular in the early 2000s

17. what are your favorite songs that have ever been popular? hmm dr feelgood?

18. who were your favorite musicians as a kid? TAYLOR, luke brian

19. how did you feel about music as a kid? loved it!

20. what was your first concert? if you haven’t been to one, what do you want your first concert to be? Tiger Army

PERFORMANCE 21. how do live performances, whether they’re from your friends or professionals, tend to make you feel? honestly concerts make me feel ify but if its a friend then hell yeah!

22. singing in the shower or singing in the car? car!

23. if you were to become a musician, what kind of musician would you be? Definitely A Rocker!

24. if you could pick one instrument to learn how to play, what would it be? DRUMS 😎

25. what is your singing voice like? what singers do you remind yourself of? okay i have no idea but nae says soft and high like Tiffany

26. have you ever been involved in any music programs? which ones and for how long? nope!

27. which instruments do you know how to play? what’s your skill level? i used to know how to play the begining of welcome to the black parade on my uke but i forgot it-

28. if you took music lessons as a kid, are you glad you did? if not, do you wish you had? i took piano/voice lessons and i don't remember any of it

SOUNDTRACKS 29. how do you feel about video game soundtracks? hmm i like the acnh one!

30. what soundtracks do you enjoy listening to the most? i dont realy listen to any

31. which soundtracks do you think are objectively the best (or what are some that you think deserve appreciation)? again i don't know-

32. how do you feel about musicals? i used to love them

33. do you have any favorite composers, including classical ones? nope

34. are there any soundtracks or kinds of soundtracks that you just can’t stand? nope

35. what are your favorite songs/soundtracks from movies? the second mama mia and not because i'm absolutely in love with lily james

LYRICS 36. what are some songs whose lyrics you relate to? okay so like “heavy metal and mullets is how we were raised” has always hit home for me-

37. pick a song and analyse its lyrics. no💕

38. which songs do you think have the best lyrics? idk man but i really vibe with rock soldiers

39. what are some songs whose lyrics you think most people just don’t get? no?

40. are there any musicians whose lyrics you particularly tend to like? taylor

41. do you prefer songs that have good melodies or songs that have good lyrics? melodies

RANDOM 49. what are your favorite album covers? TROUBLE WALKIN

50. any cover versions that you think are better than the original? MOTLEY HELTER SKELTER

51. how often do you listen to music? 24/7

52. do you collect vinyls? if so, what have been your best finds? Yes! though i didn't mean to at first, and all things must pass! she skips a lot but still

53. if you could meet any musician you’d like, who would it be? im gonna asume this mean dead or alive so i will be saying eric carr!

54. how do you feel about classical music? good to sleep to

55. would you ever want to have a career in music? Yes!

56. if you had a stage name, what would it be? no💕

57. on a scale of 1 to 10, how important is music to you? 10

58. how do you feel about rap music? not really my vibe but i don't have a problem with it

59. what do you think the best “era” for music was? probably the 70s

60. how has music affected you as a person? im not sure

#you asked i answered

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northwestofinsanity · 4 years ago

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✌♛✒

✌️- Name 3 bands you would most like to meet. Why?

This one’s probably the toughest call, because I have so many artists across different bands with reasons I relate to them, and how they helped me overcome a lot of challenges

1) I’d want to meet The Moody Blues, because they were one of the first bands I knew growing up. I think Graeme Edge would have a lot of funny stories to tell, Mike Pinder would be interesting to listen to, and John Lodge is just a really nice guy who seems to truly enjoy interacting with fans.

2) Scorpions, and not just because I’m on a kick with them right now. They are notoriously nice guys (pretty much every band who has ever toured with them said they were the best to hang out with, and they stayed good natured when the other bands were being obnoxious). They also seem to have a bunch of great stories about their times with other bands per result of them being so friendly on the road, and I’d love to know which ones they haven't told about in interviews. I think Rudolf and Herman would be funny as hell, too.

3) Dokken (classic lineup). They might not exactly be the most fun band to hang with, due to the tension and drama they have, but they were a band that got me through some tough times, and they've been through their own tough times. Don’s been through some really rough stuff lately, and he’s said that one of the things that keeps him going is when he hears someone say how his music kept them going. I wish I could tell him that. And then I’d want to meet Jeff Pilson, because he’s practically the younger, more-hyper, American version of John Lodge in personality.

♛ - Name your top 5 music videos

1) “I Wanna Touch You” -Def Leppard. You know what? They just look like a band genuinely having fun there. Supposedly, the footage isn't even from that song, but from different live clips put together just right -and yet it still works so well. Considering it’s the Adrenalize era too, it’s just good to see that as tough as that time might have been, they'd already made Vivian welcome and were enjoying having him with them.

2) “Passion Rules the Game” -Scorpions. In all honesty, this one was done almost exactly as the one above (I’d dare to say those videos are from the same director concept), except it’s a little older, doesn't have shots in as high a quality and bright lighting... and yeah, not everyone in the Scorpions are as pretty as the Def Leppard guys, but most of them were already in their 40s by ‘88, and they were still enjoying their time together despite some of them having been around in the band since the late 60s. I just like seeing that when so many bands don’t get along at all.

3) “Don’t Let Him Go” -REO Speedwagon. Again, looks like a band having fun (notice a theme here?) Mad props to Gary, who if you look carefully, has his right arm bent at the same angle the whole time, because he’s got a cast under his sleeve because he broke his elbow playing basketball. Neal even points to him as if to say “right on!” when he takes on miming the solo despite the awkward position.

4) “Dream Police” -Cheap Trick. One of the first music videos I ever saw, back at the age of 13. The beginning was funny as hell. And oh, I fell HARD for Tom Petersson!

5) “Gemini Dream” -The Moody Blues. Nothing really special about this one, but John Lodge makes a few expressions, and swings his bass on his hip at one point, and have I mentioned that I love him?

✒- If you were a song, what song would you be and why?

Hard to say for the time being, as I feel like it changes depending on what I’ve got going on in life. This hasn't always been the case, and probably won’t be some time from now, but I’ll say “Passion Rules the Game” for now (it’s definitely taken over the “constantly in my head” role that “Stillness of the Night” held for almost two years straight)... Herman Rarebell put it that the song is a metaphor for life, when basically, if you’re passionate about what you do and are enjoying it, you rule the game. It’s hard for me to really force myself to do something I’m not interested in, even though I will if I have to -but I’ll work hard and not find it any difficult if I love what I’m doing -and heck yeah, it’s gonna be playing on repeat tomorrow on the morning commute.

Thanks for asking!

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sillyfudgemonkeys · 5 years ago

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my guess is the whole cognition thing was meant to vary between individual targets since they see the world differently, thus allowing for different moments like one allowing the PT to change outfits (I haven't played PQ2 so I have no idea how cognition works in that game sry) prolly to make the writing process more flexible so things like that wouldn't be plot holes, buuuut I don't think it worked (or the frantic rewriting led to them just not caring like "eh it's a nitpick they won't care")

I’d agree, but considering this is such a key piece of lore, you’d think they’d mention it (again you’d think, but this is P5, no one needs to think, not even the writers 8U). Tho there is one thing that might play into what you are saying (spoiler for below: it’s the threat count). In all honesty I’m been wracking my brain around Shido’s Ship, MC’s initial summon, and PQ2′s lobby (esp since my last post, linked below when talking about Futaba).....and the only thing I can figure out a reason is probably this (under cut because I’ve lost control of my life, actually no I’ve always been long winded...aka....under the cut cause of the usual 8U):

(also they have their shoes off here, and then shoes on after the cutscene, makes no sense, just a daily reminder of this 8U) The only time Mona is in his “outfit” and no one else is-is when:

The person hasn’t obtained their Persona yet

After the MC obtained his Persona, his clothes reverted back (only to come back when he has to do another tutorial fight), it takes till the next day for him to constantly have his outfit on. (but it’s stated it’s because he doesn’t have full control over his power yet)

Shido’s ship when the girls changed into swimsuits

PQ2′s lobby (everyone else’s outfit disappears).

Uhhhh when they first go to Mementos, before they descend (tho once they do their outfits change) (that being said they said it’s cause of “the Shadows knowing they are there”....wait)

Futaba’s dungeon at the beginning as seen above

Oh almost forgot Sae, before you go inside her Palace, at the entrance and before that you don’t change, but after you meet her the Shadow deems you as a threat then even at the entrance you a deemed a threat.....BUT after you are caught you aren’t deemed a threat (but even Goro isn’t deemed one but....sigh). And I guess the interrogation room your clothes don’t change.

#1′s easy and consistent so no need to look at that. Just seems to mean Mona is susceptible to all and any level of cognition/distortion.

#2 is really interesting and wish we got more of it (or at least explained more cause....I have questions) esp since it seems to be explained by #6 (that being said, they said it’s cause he doesn’t have full control over his power so.....¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’ll try to fix it with later reasoning but hey it’s hard when the game has multiple answers for the same gd question lying to us trying to convince us it’s consistent when it’s not). In #2′s setting the MC isn’t considered a threat yet, at least his IRL identity isn’t. It’s only after he really talks to Kamo after escaping the dungeon, do we see a change the next time he goes in (aka Kamo saw him as a threat). Tho, here’s my question to that he also instantly sees Anne and Ryuji as a threat not long after they gain their Personas. Ryuji I get it, there’s always been animosity, but you’d think Anne wouldn’t be able to touch him IRL. so she’d be outfit-less outside of fights. It’d also make me question why, if they’ve never met a target IRL did they have their outfits equip? I mean iirc their outfits didn’t change for Okumura, and the reasoning is that he sees EVERYONE regardless of who they are, EVEN HIS OWN DAUGHTER as a threat! And tbh that makes sense for his dungeon. And you could retroactively apply this to previous dungeons (minus Kamo and Futaba) but......why wait till the 5TH GD DUNGEON FOR THIS KEY PIECE OF INFO??? *inhales* lfjksdafj;af

#3, watch me become an olympic pretzel trying to make this square peg fit into a round hole. By changing into swim suites the girls are not deemed as a threat, and will change into PT outfits if/when threatened like what happened for the MC on his first day. Except, PT outfits are kinda like Keyblades and are always with the characters, so.....even if they took them off they should just appear back on. Esp if Shido is like Okumura and deems everyone a threat, the PT don’t have control of their outfits to a big extent, the world overrides their wants the majority of the time (aka if they see you as a threat, you’re a threat no choice in the matter. BUT the one time the outfits overrule the world, is if the user is under a threat despite the world deeming them to not be one).

#4 I don’t know. Maybe the PT aren’t deemed as a threat, or the shadows don’t know they are there (can’t be because they are n00bs tho)? From what I can find/remember it’s not explained. That being said, P3/4 guys should 100% have PT outfits in that game, no if ands or butts. The ONLY thing different between PQ2′s world and the Metaverse is that they can’t use guns (BUT they can have outfits). And the lack of outfits for the P3/4 cast is lore breaking in and of itself. No really, I explain it all here (most of it is showing how the lore was built up throughout the game so it backs up the conclusion, but the real smoking gun is Futaba, so just ctrl+F “Futaba” and it brings you to the conclusion).

#5 *sigh* that stupid reasoning aside, I’m not against the idea (but it’s inconsistent, because wouldn’t Shadow!Kamo deem him a threat as well, and be forced to keep his outfit on? “Oh but he’s a n00b” no game, you have three explanations for one gd thing and they don’t mix well together pick one and stick with it...threat level via the host not Shadow makes a lot of sense just keep that one). Technically Mementos is its own palace, so not going inside it would mean you aren’t a threat to that Palace. Which I could work with. BUT since this is the public’s Palace, and they don’t know who the PT are....shouldn’t they not change yet? It’d be more impactful if over the course of the game, as they got popular they were finally deemed a threat to society and thus the gained an (consistently of course, with the outfit triggering for battle) outfit when they walked in.

#6 Makes sense tbh, tho, while I’m on board with it, it does make me wonder how far the threat level reaches.......is it at the entrance? Is it the entire plane? What is it? Also it’s high key stupid that they were deemed a threat by Futaba’s Shadow, esp if her Shadow has her best interests in mind....this dungeons just a mess from start to finish it makes no sense.

#7 Haha...really makes me wonder how far the threat level stretches. Because Mementos it’s not till you get inside the station that they deem you a threat, so there seems to be a distance thing (I mean so is pulling people in but we don’t need consistency :’D). Cause if they are far enough (which they are they freaking checked that their clothes don’t change), then there’s no need to worry about her “suspecting Goro” (cause his outfit would change otherwise, but since they are far enough they don’t have to worry)....BUT by her sending him and her to the Metaverse, that’d mean she DOES suspect him.....so wait what’s the point of her “not suspecting him”??????? It’d also be more interesting if Mako and Goro didn’t change outfits, because she doesn’t suspect them but kelsfjldkjfa

P5: We’re so smartMe: Why do you keep doing dumb shit then????

Anyway I’d agree with you that maybe they wanted to be flexible, but they don’t......provide the ground work for that. It def feels like they threw shit together and didn’t think we’d notice. I mean there are A LOT of writers in this game, that could explain the consistency issues. I mean it explains it not excuses it, they had years to fix it (unlike Ultimax it seems, that shit was ruuuuuuushed in such a short time).

Anyway if they wanted to make it flexible, they’d make it consistently the IRL Palace host’s threat level/way of thinking (not the Shadow self, nothing else, just the host). Cause everything, even their shadows in P5, reflects their state of mind. It’d also make for great visual storytelling too, such as Kamo deeming all the guys threats after he realizes he can’t control them, and never viewing Anne as a threat (aka showcasing he can get away with it). It’d give Okumura’s “doesn’t even trust his own daughter” thing even more weight when we got to it. Or Futaba’s complete and utter desperation to be helped more impact as well (it’d at least be a step to fixing that horrible Palace, eff it’s lore and the sphinx it rode in on). It could showcase another Palace hosts’ growing anxiety, and how they trusted people but now trust no one since the start of the dungeon. It could showcase their preferences (aka Kamoshida views rebelling males vs subjecting males/any females), or maybe they don’t like cats so Mona’s appearance is veeeery wonky in one. It could be a great way to reveal different things about the Host in a short amount of time, but this is P5 and we don’t care~! :D DX

Then again this might butt heads with the Cognitive versions, but then there’s no reasoning behind MC’s inability to maintain his outfit the first day (or why no one else has this issue). No the n00b thing makes no sense (esp since it consistently shows up when there’s trouble and disappears when trouble is gone, so it seems less about control than it is only essential when there’s danger around), because we still have the Shadow explanation from Mementos to go by and Shadow Futaba’s threat level too. But I’d say it’s totally possible that they can both exist (if explained right), Cognitive selves show 100% what that person thinks of them, while if they deem them a threat or not only affects if their outfit appears (because that is tied to the cognitive world, not the real person). With the cognitive selves serving as insight and an explanation as to why the host doesn’t deem that specific person as a threat.

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